The San Francisco call., 1910-11-09
POLO ENTHUSIASTS
FLOCK TO COAST
Brilliant Season in California
Is Predicted by Visiting
Followers of Sport

than this fall Players are already ar
irving from the east and are assem-
bling on the grounds of the Coronado
country club, where the annual cham
pionships are held in March This club
has considerably increased the popu
larity of the game by Offering mag
nifcent trophies as we'll as building an
establishment which is the most com
plete in this country and, possibly, in
the world. Players from England who
have played in most places where the
game is popular declare that nowhere
is there a better field than the tourna
ment field of the club while the
stabUng accommodations are unsur
passed. there being 200 box stalls on the
grounds.
The polo season in southern Califor-
MIA will start December and will last
until the middle of April. Major Colin
George Ross, the captain of the Coro-
nado team, has returned from trip 10
his ranch in Alberta and brings the
good news that Canadian team VIII
arrive at Coronado the end of November
and will play there all winter. This
team is the Calgary team, and is MADE
up of the following players: A. Hone
Conde Landale. j. Notion, H. Robertson
Cheever Cowdn of Meadowbrook and
Rockaway, n. Y, is now at CORONADO
and will spend the winter there COW
din is awaiting the arrival of Malcolm
Stevenson, H. S. and ]. c. Phipps, who
will play with him on a team called
the Rockaway team and who will
divide their time between Coronado
and San Mateo, where the Phipps duo
have taken the house of the late D. Q.
Mills for the winter. Another early arri-
val at Coronado is Captain j. Campbell
Besley who captained the Hermosillo,
la al o.
Captain Besley is shipping his ponies
to Coronado. where he intends to
winter From the City of Mexico indi-
vidual players are coming to Coronado
to make up a team and to enter the
contest for the All American polo
trophy, valued at $4,000 which is pre-
sented by members of the Coronado
country club and which is contested for
yearly at this club. provided there are
two or more entries foreign to Cali
fornia entered in the tournament. This
is of course, certainty. as the teams
from New York, Canada and Mexico
are already entered.
The cup was won last year by an
English team made up of F. A. Gill,
Major G.. w. Hobson. Major Romer Lee,
Lieutenant f. B. Hurndall, the latter
of the Twentieth hussars, stationed in
Ireland. They took the cup to England
with them and put 1t on exhibition at
Ranelagh, the finest polo club in the
old country. where thousands of people
interested in the sport saw it. They
will either have to come back to defend
their title or forfeit their right to
the same. The cup will be returned to
this country in the near future and will
be on exhibition at Shreve & Co.'S in San
Francisco, the makers of this beautiful
trophy.
Paul H. Schmidt, secretary of the
Coronado country club. has been in cor
respondence with some prominent Eng
lish players and has heard from Harry
Rich that he and the two Winans and
one other may come out to play on the
coast. They won the county cup last
year in England and are players of
note. Schmidt is also corresponding
with Lord Alastair Innes-Ker and Lord
Tweedmouth of the Royal Horse guards
and it is not unlikely that they will
come with a team, 5 they are con-
temp1ating a trip to the coast prior to
playing In the east. A great many
Englishmen are going to New York in
the spring to witness the championship
games with a team picked from the
best polo players in Great Britain. This
team is coming over to contest for the
worlds championship cup which Harry
Payne Whitney's wonderful team
brought home from England last year
and which won the championship of the
world Whitneys team consists Of
himself. Larry Waterbury, Monte
Waterbury and Devereux Milburn. A
number of these English players may
come to California to winter and to get
into shape for their contest with the
champions.
On the coast there will be teams at
Burlingame, Santa Barbara, Pasadena,
Riverside and Coronado. The latter
team has already started practice and
when the Canadians arrive expect to
play three times a week and have sew
eral minor tournaments There are a
number of younger players who will
be much benefited by the fact that in
future polo will be played under Ameri-
can rules on the coast and that each
player will be handicapped, the be-
ginners having as good a chance as the
more experienced players.
At the tournament held recently at
Narragansett pier professional UNI
pire named Holmes was used and it
has changed the game of polo. 1t was
thought that the American game was
considerably more dangerous than the
English game, but this idea has been
exploded by the regularity of the game
as conducted by Holmes. 1t was found
most satisfactory by all the players
ana he has been re-engaged for the
next tournament. Only one accident
occurred at NarragdnSetL pier and this
was entirely the fault of the Individual
who committed 1t, as he was very rash
and not very experienced.
A series, of mishaps In the games
played on the coast last year rather
discoura ged some players, so it is likely
that Holmes will be engaged to come
out In fact several players have al
ready subscribed toward getting him.
What the Burlingame team will do this
year is hard to tell, sthe team is
rather split up sinces Richard Tobins
most unfortunate accident last season.
Although he has recovered from
broken leg, he will hardly be able to
play Within a year. The wise ones
predict that his nephew, Cyril Tobin,
will take his place and he is certainly
entitled to play on this famous team
inasmuch as he played such a dashing
game last year. Walter Hobart will
no doubt take his old place on the
team. as will Lawson and Driscoll
Hobart's game improves from year to
wear and he will no doubt receive a
very high rating in the American asso-
citation. as he is one of the best PLAYERS
in the country and hard to beat
In the south team from Pasadena
will compete for the first time in the
different tournaments. Riverside has
the same players as it has had for
wears. Bettner, Hudson, McVitty.
Dattae Lett and ofbarc x,-bo