The venom of “Snakebite” killed off
Rubis’s hopes of a 2014 First Citizens
Barbados Open victory
By Corey Greaves
S
& More 2015
Photos by Lisa Davis & Yvette Reid
ix teams suited up in 2014, in an attempt to unseat the defending
champions, Range Rover, in the 12th staging of the First Citizens
Barbados Open polo tournament.
With nine international players from New Zealand, Argentina and the
United Kingdom combining their efforts with some solid local talent in
support, the teams were divided into two leagues. In league one were the
defending champions Range Rover who were looking to fend off the
challenges from newcomers Rubis, Bulova and Hyundai. In league two
were Silver Point, ICBL/Sport Lobster, Snakebite and Silverpoint/Chester
Polo.
Despite the tournament being reduced to an 8-goal handicap down from
the normal 10-goals, the quality and intensity of the action was still
expected to be of a high calibre.
Snakebite captained by 0 goaler Max Kirchhoff, got things rolling for
the tournament with the first game at Apes Hill. Kirchhoff support cast
was made up of Argentinian Christian Chaves and fellow Englishman
David Ashby both playing off a 4-goal handicap, while the Barbados Polo
Club’s Club Captain Richard Deane at 0 goals was the fourth member of
the team. Their opponents were Silver Point/Chester Polo led by Barbados’
Damian Luke (0), he was joined in the middle by New Zealander’s Mike
Henderson and Johnny Coddington both 4 goals, and the patron of
Chester Polo in the UK Richard Thomas on 0 goals.
Snakebite could not stop a hard charging Silver Point/ Chester from
victory as they surrendered a 3-0 advantage at the end of the first chukker.
Snakebite’s early lead was attributed to the hard work of Christian Chaves
who scored three times; however after that the floodgates closed and they
only managed two goals in the next three chukkers.
It was the fancy stick work of Johnny Coddington that opened the door
for Silver Point/Chester with the first goal for the team; he quickly added a
second goal to move the score to 3-2. Chaves responded and the Snakebite
4-2 lead was shortlived as Silver Point/Chester’s Henderson scored just before
the half.
The shock of the first chukker had awakened Silver Point/Chester and they
dominated the third chukker. Henderson continued where he left off and
levelled the scores about a minute into the chukker. The goals continued
to flow with Snakebite unable to find an answer, Silver Point/Chester took
the lead through a 30-yard penalty strike from Coddington to take them into
the lead 5-4.
After being kept off the board in the third chukker, Snakebite only
managed one goal in the fourth as the combination of Coddington and
Henderson proved to be too much and the first game of the tournament
easily went to Silver Point/Chester with an 8-5 victory over Snakebite.
In the second match of the opening day Rubis took on Bulova. Rubis was
led by Stewart Gill (0) ex-English national player Roddy Williams (4),
seasoned regular Oliver Taylor (4) and local player Oliver Williams also
on 0 goals.
Bulova was led by veteran Sir Charles Williams (0) with Jamie Dickson
(3) and Pablo Crespin (3), and Jeff Evelyn (2) in support. Pablo Crespin
Top Left: Lanto Sheridan with Nico Roberts in support under pressure from Richard Thomas of Chester Polo
Top Right: Jamie Dickson taking the line away from Rhys Odle
47