Autumn 2021

OPINION

26

PETER JAMES FIELD/AGENCYRUSH.COM; MUSEUM OF POLO ARCHIVE

hurlinghampolo.com

Left: Adolfo Cambiaso pictured in 1991

In a leagueof his own

39

Adam Lindemann reveals the untold story of Adolfo Cambiaso’s first high-goal tournament and Cellular One’s 1991 Rolex Gold Cup victory

SNOOPY PRODUCTIONS

T hirty years later, it’s a good time to tell the story of what really

happened, because it’s a great story. Adolfo Cambiaso was actually discovered through an inside tip I got in a Buenos Aires nightclub. No doubt without me or anyone else he would have still ended up as the greatest of all time, but here’s the untold story of when my polo team, Cellular One, won the 1991 Rolex Gold Cup, the top tournament in the US at that time.

Back in the 1980s, my father sponsored a high-goal polo team for me, but mostly for himself, as he enjoyed coming to the games and smoking a big cigar. Dad gave me a very generous but realistic budget – a pittance compared to what people spend today.

My team consisted of Luis Lalor, a true old school gentleman player, and 10-goaler Ernesto Trotz, who was the star number 4 of Gonzalo Pieres’ dominant and fabled Argentine Open team, La Espadana. The line-up made some sense perhaps on paper; Lalor, a “delantero”, could play up front and Trotz was a great

“back”, but in fact, the two played horribly together and probably disliked each other tremendously. We were a certified losing combination, and in the 26-goal warm-up we lost every game.

I had spoken Spanish most of my life, having learned to ski race at the Club Andino in Bariloche. I could curse in “castellano” with the best of them. I would go to Argentina every autumn to buy horses and play some superfast polo with wooden balls on strange fields. I loved drinking mate, a good asado, and I always loved Argentina and the culture of “la caballeriza y los petiseros”.

Polo nights, however, were a bit slow for my NY sensibilities, and one special night in Buenos Aires I had no plans, so I decided to go solo to Le Club, a bar/nightclub favoured by all the top polo players. I ordered a big magnum of champagne, and sat by the door, ready to invite everyone and anyone for a drink and “una charla”. In walked Eduardo “El Russo” Heguy, a talented and tough player but always a great and friendly guy to me.

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