International Polo Cup

New York Times on June 30, 1912

John Traill and Henry Archdale Tomkinson arriving by boat for the 1914 International Polo Cup

The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and Great Britain. The match is the best of three games. In 1886 it was decided to make the polo match a continuing competition. There were a total of 12 matches conducted between 1886 and 1939 between the two countries. The tournament was revived in 1992 and was last played in 1997 and 2009.^[1]

History

The cup was first awarded to the team of Sir John Watson in 1876 in Newport, Rhode Island. The cup was later purchased by a subscription and presented to the Westchester Polo Club in 1886. It was won consistently by English teams from the Hurlingham Club until 1909. In that year, James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr., Lawrence Waterbury, Harry Payne Whitney and Devereaux Milburn formed a team, dubbed the Big Four, that won the cup from the British.^[2] The same team was successful in 1911 and 1913, but lost the Cup in 1914. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Westchester Cup was the most anticipated event on the sporting calendar in the United States.^[3][4]

Winner

The cup has been won a total of 10 times by the United States and 6 times by Great Britain, including the initial 1876 match. The match was suspended in the 1940s due to World War II and was not revived until the 1990s.^{[5] [6]}

Year	Winner	English Team	American Team	Score	Venue/Date
1876	Great Britain	Sir John Watson			Newport
1886	Great Britain	T. Hone, R. Lawley, Malcolm Little (polo) and Sir John Watson	William Knapp Thorn, Raymond Belmont, Foxhall Parker Keene and Thomas Hitchcock, Sr.	10-4 14-2	Newport
1902 [7][8]	Great Britain	Cecil P. Nickalls, Patteson Womersley Nickalls, Frederick Maitland Freake, Walter Selby Buckmaster, George Arthur Miller and Charles Darley Miller	Rodolphe Louis Agassiz, James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr., John Elliott Cowdin, Lawrence Waterbury and Foxhall P. Keene	1-2 6-1 7-1	Hurlingham
1909	United States	Herbert Haydon Wilson, Harry Rich, Frederick Maitland Freake, Patteson Womersley Nickalls, Lord Wodehouse and John Hardress Lloyd	Lawrence Waterbury, James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr., Harry Payne Whitney and Devereaux Milburn	9-5 8-2	Hurlingham
1911	United States	Leslie St. Clair Cheape, Arthur Noel Edwards, John Hardress Lloyd and Herbert Haydon Wilson.	Lawrence Waterbury, James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr., Harry Payne Whitney and Devereaux Milburn	4.5-2.75 4.5 –3.5	Meadowbrook
1913	United States	Leslie St. Clair Cheape, Ralph Gerald Ritson and Vivian Noverre Lockett.	Lawrence Waterbury, Louis Ezekiel Stoddard, James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr., Harry Payne Whitney and Devereaux Milburn	5.5–3 4.5-4.25	Meadowbrook on June 14, 1913
1914	Great Britain	Henry Archdale Tomkinson, Leslie St. Clair Cheape, Frederick W. Barrett and Vivian Noverre Lockett	Rene Morgan La Montagne, Jr., James Montaudevert Waterbury, Jr., Devereaux Milburn and Lawrence Waterbury	8.5-3 4-2.75	Meadowbrook
1921	United States	Henry Archdale Tomkinson, Frederick W. Barrett, Lord Wodehouse and Vivian Noverre Lockett	Louis Ezekiel Stoddard, Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., James Watson Webb, Sr. and Devereaux Milburn	16-5 14-5	Meadowbrook
1924	United States	Thomas William Kirkwood, Teignmouth Philip Melvill, Frank Brereton Hurndall, Geoffrey H. Phipps-Hornby, Sr., Eric Garnett Atkinson and Lewis Lawrence Lacey	James Watson Webb, Sr., Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., Malcolm Stevenson, Robert Early Strawbridge, Jr. and Devereaux Milburn	16-5 14-5	Meadowbrook
1927	United States	Claude Ernest Pert, Richard George (polo), Austin Henry Williams, John Pitt Dening, Charles Thomas Irvine Roark and Eric Garnett Atkinson	James Watson Webb, Sr., Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., Malcolm Stevenson and Devereaux Milburn	13-3 8-5	Meadowbrook
1930 [9]	United States	Gerald Barnard Balding, Sr., Lewis Lawrence Lacey, Charles Thomas Irvine Roark and Humphrey Patrick Guinness.	Eric Leader Pedley, Earle Hopping, Thomas Hitchcock, Jr. and Winston Frederick Churchill Guest	10-5 14-9	Meadowbrook
1936	United States	Hugh Hesketh Hughes, Gerald Barnard Balding, Sr., Eric Horace Tyrrell-Martin and Humphrey Patrick Guinness.	Eric Leader Pedley, Michael Grace Phipps, Stewart Birrell Iglehart and Winston Frederick Churchill Guest.	10-9 8-6	Hurlingham
1939	United States	Robert Skene, Aiden Roark, Gerald Barnard Balding, Sr. and Eric Horace Tyrrell-Martin	Michael Grace Phipps, Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., Stewart Birrell Iglehart and Winston Frederick Churchill Guest	11-7 9-4	Meadowbrook
1992	United States	William Lucas (polo), Cody Forsyth, Alan Kent (polo) and Howard Hipwood	John Gobin (polo), Adam Snow, Owen Rinehart and Rob Walton (polo)	8-7	Guards
1997	Great Britain	William Lucas (polo), Cody Forsyth, Howard Hipwood and Andrew Hine	Julio Arellano, Michael Azzaro, Guillermo Gracida, Jr. and John B. Goodman (polo)	12-9	Guards
2009	Great Britain	Luke Tomlinson, Mark Tomlinson, James Beim and Eduardo Novillo Astrada	Adam Snow, Mike Azzaro, Nicholas Roldan, Jeff Blake (polo) and Jeff Hall (polo)	10-9	International

• 

  1886 British team

• 

  1902 American team

• 

  1914 British team arriving

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  1914 British team mounted

• 

  1921 American team

External links

• International Polo Cup team photographs

References

1. ^ Webbe, Alex. "The Westchester Cup". http://www.westchestercup.org/history.htm. Retrieved 3 October 2010. 
2. ^ "Monte Waterbury, polo player, dead". The New York Times. August 29, 1920. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30B10FD3B5B11728DDDA00A94D0405B808EF1D3. Retrieved 19 September 2010. 
3. ^ "Sport: Westchester Cup". Time Magazine. June 19, 1939. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761507,00.html. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
4. ^ "Polo Cup Gift of Deed. August Belmont's Proposals Accepted by Hurlingham Club". New York Times. June 30, 1912. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NewportCup_1912June30.png. Retrieved 2009-11-24. "The Hurlingham Club of London has accepted the proposal of August Belmont for the International Polo Cup. The document covering all the details of the deed of gift was framed last year by Mr. Belmont after a consultation with the Hurlingham Club." 
5. ^ "America Wins, Polo Cup Stays" (PDF). New York Times. June 14, 1913. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=2&res=9D05E4D6143FE633A25756C1A9609C946296D6CF. Retrieved 2009-11-24. 
6. ^ "Facts: Westchester Cup, International Polo, Great Britain vs. United States". 2009 Westchester Cup. http://www.westchestercup.org/facts.htm. Retrieved 4 October 2010. 
7. ^ "Polo Ponies Sail To-Day. Will Be Used in the International Match at Hurlingham. The Pick Of Six Stables. Twenty-four in All, Furnished by Gould, Mackay, Cowdin, Agassiz, and "Larry" Waterbury". New York Times. January 11, 1902. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E1EF8355F1B738DDDA80994D9405B828CF1D3. Retrieved 2011-04-05. "Twenty-four of the most valuable and thoroughly tried-out polo ponies to be found in the United States will sail early this morning for England on the steamship Minneapolis. They represent the string which, with the addition of Foxhall Keene's ponies, already in England, will be used by the American players in the coming international match with the crack players of the Hurlingham Club." 
8. ^ "The Coming International Polo Contest". New York Times. March 2, 1902. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00E1FFB3B591B728DDDAB0894DB405B828CF1D3. Retrieved 2011-04-07. "International athletic contests have become so numerous lately that they have almost ceased to be a novelty. Their interest, however, has not diminished, and if one looks at the yacht racing rivalry between England and America for an example, it would seem as though popular enthusiasm increased with each new contest. ..." 
9. ^ "At Meadow Brook". Time magazine. September 15, 1930. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788469,00.html. Retrieved 2011-04-05. "Critics had predicted a runaway for the Americans. This did not happen. Through the first half, and until the seventh chukker. the Englishmen made it hard. Lacey's Argentine ponies outran the bigger U. S. mounts for a while; first Guest, then Roark and Hitchcock broke mallets. Lacey stole the ball from Hopping and Hitchcock for beautiful shots. What the English team lacked most was an accurate goal shooter like Pedley. Consistently the ball was fed to Balding at No. 1, but under pressure, Balding's shots were sliced, sometimes missed entirely."