Trade the Falklands for polo players? Prince Felipe’s joke on a visit to Argentina

It might be rude to say it now, but there is a well-founded story that British Prince Felipe once expressed his willingness to swap the Falkland Islands with Argentina for two greats. polo players.

This happened in 1966, long before Her Majesty’s Government considered the South Atlantic islands large enough to send the Royal Navy to reclaim them from the invading Argentine armed forces in 1982.

There was a tournament in the Hurlingham Club in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and the British Polo Association had excluded the prince, with his average handicap of 5, from the high handicap team he had formed.

The Duke of Edinburgh still wanted to play, so the Argentine Polo Association This put him on a team with three local rising young stars, including brothers Heguy, Horacio and Alberto Pedro.

In the semifinals, the prince played inspired polo and his team beat the visiting British team, 15-5, before losing the final to an Argentina team by one goal.

After the victory over the British team, Argentinian journalists raised the issue of the disputed Falklands. The prince said, according to published reports, that I would trade the islands for the two Heguys. The offer was a joke, but for a polo fan the Heguys might not have been a bad investment.

Still nimble and lean in the saddle, though grizzled and with wrinkles on their faces, the brothers made polo history and also passed their skills down to eight sons, enough for two polo teams.

Three of Horacio’s sons, still in their twenties, have followed their father and uncle through the ranks of those with a disability of 10, a designation that signifies stardom in the polo world. Two sons of Alberto Pedro are one step back at a disadvantage of 9.

Additionally, the hundreds of polo ponies that the Heguys raise and train are sold worldwide for prices that often exceed $ 10,000 each and can go as high as $ 20,000.

Argentines, world polo stars

Wherever they play, Argentines dominate the game: in Palm Beach, Florida, Greenwich, Connecticut, Deauville in France, Sotogrande in Spain, Australia and elsewhere.

Currently six Argentines have a handicap of 10. Polo players say the reason for Argentina’s superiority is both heritage and environment.

“For as long as I can remember I have ridden a horse with a polo crampon in my hand,” said Horacio Heguy, 52. “Our father taught us to play polo on foot, then polo on bicycle, then on ponies, then on horseback,” he recalls.

Perhaps the big individual stars of Argentine polo at this time are the Pieres brothers, Gonzalo and Alfonso, both with a handicap of 10. Along with Carlos Gracida and Ernesto Trotz, they are the team that beat two teams dominated by Heguys to capture the Argentinian. Open.

Along with Horacio and Alberto Pedro Heguy, the Harriotts formed a team that dominated Argentine polo in the 1970s. Their archrivals were the Dorignac brothers, Francisco and Gaston. Today, Francisco Dorignac is president of the Argentine Polo Association.

British immigration and polo

Immigrants from England, Ireland and Scotland brought polo to Argentina, from the rich agricultural lands around Venado Tuerto, in the province of Santa Fe.

A decade after polo was first played at the Hurlingham Club in England in 1872, it was being tested on farms and ranches near Venado Tuerto.

The first recognized polo club in Argentina was established there in 1888. The first important names in Argentine polo were English or Irish. Then the Basques, the Spaniards and others took over. The Heguys are descendants of French Basque settlers.

The New York Times

The original version of this article was published on January 1, 1989 in the print edition of The New York Times.