& More 2015
such as “A Night at the Races”, which was staged at various hotels
on the Island and consisted of the showing of thoroughbred horseracing on film. Guests of the hotels were invited to wager on these
races; this provided entertainment to tourists and revenue to the Club.”
A Night at the Races” for some years was the Club’s main method
of fund raising. Since the Club has found many other novel ways to
raise funds, including a charity Golf tournament and most recently
a polo tournament. With funds raised from these projects, its outreach
extends much further into the local communities where they work.
2014 was the second running of the Rotary West Polo Challenge,
and Scotiabank once again stepped up to the plate as the title
sponsor. Also in support were sponsors Solaris Energy, Platinum Bay
and Columbus. The 300 strong VIP enclosure had a Mardi Gras
theme and the colourful greens, purples and gold, the traditional
Mardi Gras colours, were the perfect foil to the some-what inclement.
The main match of the afternoon saw title sponsors Scotiabank
Barbados take on Platinum Bay, a team of visiting players from the
UK. This Final was the culmination of a 3 match series between
these two teams.
The visitors and Barbados equally had one game under their belt,
so whoever the winner was of this final game, would also be the series
champion; with Silverware at stake, the pressure was on from the
get go.
Starting with a ½ goal advantage, the visitors threw down the
gauntlet and got off to an impressive start scoring a goal within
moments of the throw in; as they took the ball from off the boards
for an easy conversion. Barbados was keen to not let the advantage
get too far ahead of them, and kept the pressure on. With a ½ goal
in the game a winner was assured at the end of regular time. Alex
Cole scored the go ahead goal for the home side as the pace heated
up; he made light work of a 30-yard penalty awarded to Barbados
in the dying moments of the first chukker. But Platinum Bay
responded with a 30 yard conversion of their own. Barbados again
got some breathing room when Cole stepped in again to crack
home a 60-yard penalty high over the defence to give Barbados
their fourth goal.
The tough battle in the third chukker saw the teams attempts at goal
missing their mark repeatedly, until CB Scherer of Platinum Bay
got a close range penalty and made sure he closed the advantage
once more. This was the only goal of that chukker, and once again
only a ½ goal separated the teams; this pesky ½ goal kept
haunting Barbados would it end up being their nemesis.
The fourth and final chukker saw Platinum Bay come out all guns
blazing, as CB Scherer scored again for them at the start of the chukker,
Barbados now had some work to do if they intended to take away top
honours. They eventually found the answer in the form of the new
President of the Barbados Polo Club Wayne Archer, who turned in
an impressive last chukker performance to be the winning catalyst.
His tally started when he pounced on a ball driven down the field
by Oliver Williams; with two more touches of his mallet he sent
the ball sailing through the uprights. However with only a ½
goal advantage in their favour 5-4½, the Scotiabank Barbados team
could not breathe easy just yet. Archer gave them some breathing
room when he put his second goal of the chukker home. This goal
ensured there was no come back for Scherer and his Platinum
Bay side. As the clock ticked down, they seemed to have lost that
intense gusto that had carried them through the first 3 chukkers.
Barbados was like the wind eventually that sucked the wind
out of their sails. Scotiabank Barbados ran out the eventual
winners 6-4½
Above: The interior collage of the Mardi Gras themed VIP Marquee
Above: The victorious Scotiabank Team of Alex Cole, Oliver Williams, Wayne Archer and Roddy
Davis with their Platinum Bay opponents and friends
71