Polo park farewelled in style

The Blenheim Polo Club bid farewell to their headquarters at Rewi Murray Park in fitting style.

In their final hit-out before moving to an alternative venue, which is yet to be decided, the club hosted a two-day tournament on January 26-27.

Labelled the “Rewi Murray Polo Park grand finale”, competition was fast and furious across both the A grade 6-goal and B grade 2-goal divisions.

The A grade winners were Burnett Electrical, comprising Pete and Max Dormer, plus Argentinian players Emi Wagner-Henin and Agustin Wagner-Henin.  Runners-up were the Crafar Crouch team of Matthew Geddes, Oscar Power, Rinsten Oldohk and Garth Mackenzie who led by two goals early in Sunday’s final but were unable to hold off the fast-finishing Burnett combination.

B grade winners were the Farmlands quartet of James Reid, George Andrews, Jess Reid and Ru Barlow. Runners-up after a thrilling final were Vet Marlborough, comprising Brett Harris, Bridget O’Sullivan, Charlie Sommerville and Matt O’Sullivan.

Matthew Geddes was named the most improved player, while awards were presented for the longest-competing men’s and women’s player at the Rewi Murray venue - Garth Mackenzie and Ange Norrie taking the honours.

Past-president John Reader said that the move from Rewi Murray Park was necessary, given the club’s lease with the Marlborough District Council was due to run out. “[The move] was inevitable,” said John, suggesting the club would be based at his private ground near Clarence in the interim, with the council investigating the formation of a ground near the Marlborough Equestrian Park at Spring Creek.

“It is up in the air where we will permanently end up, but at the moment we will be down on the East Coast so we have a ground to carry on playing.”

He described the weekend as “one of our better tournaments in the last six years”.

“It was well supported. We had a good turnout of 10 teams, from as far away as South Canterbury. It was a really-good send-off,” John added.

The Blenheim Polo club was officially formed in 1973.

In the early days of the club, they played at Tyntesfield farm in the Waihopai Valley and then at Jordans’ property on Old Renwick Rd, before shifting to Rewi Murray Park in 1980-81.