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1985 On 26–27 January, the St. Moritz Polo Club organised and hosted the world premiere of the Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow on the lake of St. Moritz. The unique white arena on the lake passed its initiation as a polo field with flying colours. The cornerstone for a new highlight in the St. Moritz events calendar had been laid. The tournament is an ideal complement to St. Moritz’s tourist marketing plan.
1986 Christian Mathis stepped down as Club Chairman and was succeeded by Dr. P. R. Berry II, the son of the original Club founder.
1987 Daniel Hofstetter, long-serving Vice-Chairman at past winter tournaments, took over the office of Club Chairman from P. R. Berry II.
1988 Acting on one of the Club’s objectives, to organise polo matches, negotiations began with the citizens and municipality of St. Moritz for the takeover of building rights to the San Gian site by the St. Moritz Polo Club. The plan was to lay the land out as a polo field.
This same year, the serving Chairman, Daniel Hofstetter, assumed a dual function as Chair of the Organising Committee of the winter tournament.
1991 Through the personal dedication and negotiating flair of Club Committee members Adolf Hörler and Hans Gartmann, the Club finalised a building permit with the municipality. The field was also to made be available to other event organisers, and would be called ‘San Gian Equestrian Sports Field’. It took much hard work to lay out the new polo field. At this altitude, there were unforeseen obstacles to overcome. The newly laid polo field was officially inaugurated on 7 September.
Among the guests was the Spanish Crown Prince, Don Felipe de Borbon. Now there was no further obstacle to holding summer events, and the St. Moritz Polo Club applied to FIP (Federación Internacional de Polo) as a candidate for the 1993 European Championships and for the 1994 and 1996 World Cups.
1992 The FIP congress decided to hold the 1993 European Championships and the 1995 World Cup in St. Moritz. One effective lobbyist for St. Moritz was Piero Dillier. Also in 1992, former Club Vice-Chairman and captain of the St. Moritz polo team, Reto Gaudenzi, was elected as the new Club Chairman. He took over from Daniel Hofstetter, who continued to serve as Vice-Chairman and to chair the winter Organising Committee. In August, with Reto G. Gaudenzi chairing the Organising Committee, the first summer tournament of the ‘new era’ was held: the BSI Swiss Open. This made St. Moritz the only place in the world where polo was played both on snow in winter and on grass in summer.
Summer 1992 also saw the first polo college on the new San Gian Equestrian Sports Field, coached by Argentinian Club member Adrian Laplacette. Among the 25 course participants were three rising stars of the St. Moritz Polo Club, who then became eligible to attend a training camp in Argentina. As a result, the Club was delighted to record a 100% increase in its local players.
1993 In late July, the European Championships were held at San Gian. In a way, it was a dress rehearsal for the forthcoming World Cup. The task of congratulating the winning English team on its victory fell to Organising Committee Chairman Peter Märky. More than 13,000 spectators watched the matches.
The Swiss national team, with Piero Dillier, Mario Zindel, Reto Gaudenzi, Adriano Agosti and Francisco Soldati, all members of the St. Moritz Polo Club, earned itself the bronze medal. This marked the greatest success yet in Switzerland’s polo-playing history.
1994 At the tenth-anniversary Polo World Cup on Snow, the St. Moritz Polo Club boasted 83 members. The world’s first polo tournament on snow had attracted great interest internationally. Other well-known winter sports destinations had taken up the idea and included similar events on their programmes. In June the FIP inspected and approved the San Gian Equestrian Sports Field, which gave the green light for holding the World Cup. Due to the necessary work of adapting the field for the World Cup, no summer tournament was held this year. Instead, Peter Märky, Vic Jacob and Claudio Conrad organised a junior tournament.
To release the necessary ponies for training and matches, a polo pony pool was founded, independent of the Club, under the auspices of Claudio Conrad. back >>1995–1997 |
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