Polo Mag Combined - 54-97:Layout 1 - The Polo Magazine

We travelled to St Tropez to meet Jerome Wirth, the French-born patron of
Enigma, the team that famously won the £50K in the Hurtwood Masters earlier
this year. On top of The Masters, they had a great 2008, with many tournaments
‘in the bag’ and the 18 goal Victor Ludorum in the trophy cabinet too. He was out
in St Tropez on a ‘European Tour’, taking in Deauville, The Gold and Silver Cups in
St Tropez and the Polo Masters in Belgium, this time playing under the Rothschilds
banner with team mate Shahe Kalaidijan.
Over lunch, at the famous ‘celeb spotting’ favourite Club 55 on Pampelonne beach,
we wanted to know many things about Mr Wirth. Why, when he is French does he live,
work, and play polo in England and employ predominantly British players Is it true
that, unlike many patrons, he thinks that there should be pro only patron-less tours
And what about the stories that he has only been playing polo for seven years…
There were questions, questions, questions.
We had heard on the infamous polo jungle telegraph that he has big ‘high goal’
plans for Enigma in 2009. A winter spent preparing in Argentina, a breeding
programme, psychologists, fitness trainers and a coach for the team On the other
hand, we had heard rumours of him being very kind to his horses and devoted to his
Gordon Setter dog, Soto.
We were more than a little intrigued.
So, we met with him for what had been set up as a quick lunch-time interview.
What we had not bargained for was getting on so well with this very down to earth
and likeable guy. So, let’s find out about Jerome Wirth:
In this issue of
The Polo Magazine we look at
patrons from overseas who choose
to base their polo in the UK.
We get to know why they choose
to support polo as a sport and ask
the question – why the UK
Photographs courtesy of Zahra Hanbury
J erome Wirth
“My family has always been very involved with horses: both my grandparents and my parents rode all
of their lives, and myself, I have been riding since I was a very, very young kid, since I was four years old
in fact. One of my paternal aunts was in the French National Equine Team and another was in the
National Dressage Team, so I was always surrounded by horses, which has been quite handy, it turns
out. I stopped riding when I was 16 or 17 to concentrate on my rugby. Then I started riding again a
bit and then, about six or seven years ago, I was in Chantilly in October and a friend of mine said.
“Why don’t you have a go at polo Go on, have a go – see if you can hit the ball!” I did, and that, as
they say, was it – I was hooked 100% on polo, just immediately. So then I took a few lessons in
Chantilly that winter and I went on to play for five years in Paris. At that time, I was living in London,
so I was going backwards and forwards to play polo at the weekends; it was a bit difficult, so two years
ago I started to play in England.
I really do love England and living in London, I feel that I am now 100% anglicised. Then, about
two years ago, I bumped into Malcolm [Borwick] at a party and I asked him for his advice. I wanted
somewhere to keep my horses and base myself 100% in the UK. I wasn’t sure where to go – Guards
Cirencester Beaufort With Malcolm’s input I moved my horses into his yard near Cowdray, so that he
was able to look after them and arrange the best training for them. So, to cut a long story short,
I started to play 12 – 15 goal last year, playing off 1 goals. But it was a bit of a nightmare being 1 goal,
we lost everything at the beginning of the season and we had a change around in the middle of the
season and that was a bit better, but ultimately I was just not bringing in enough goals, so I was pleased
to be put down to zero for this season.
So this year was a good year! We won one 15 goal, three 12 goal finals, The Cicero Cup,
The Bryan Bethell (Cowdray subsidiary of the Royal Windsor) and we won the Victor Ludorum this
year at the 18 goal level. Last year, Malcolm was playing with a number of other patrons, but this
year I asked him to be my Polo Manager and now we play together in everything Enigma enters.
So it is exciting, because next year we are going to concentrate on the high goal with Mattias
McDonough, Beimy and Malcolm. I think it is now or never to do the high goal; I am young enough
to do it now, I want to play the best polo I am capable of for the next four or five years and I want to
give it my best shot while I still can, while I am still young enough! We are planning to enter the
Trippets Challenge, The Prince of Wales, The Queen’s Cup and The Gold Cup – I think it will be
quite interesting!
Of course, it will mean changing a few horses; when I first came to England from France, I only had a
few good horses, of course, they have been added to and replaced since then, but for next season I will
have to replace some of the ones that will not be up to high goal level and invest in some really good
ponies. I will just have one high goal string, but I want it to be really strong; they will have to be able to
play 18 and 22 goal polo! I buy most of my ponies via Malcolm and Ruki Baillieu and other players,
but I’m finding more and more that I am favouring ponies from Australia and New Zealand – less and less
from Argentina. In my opinion, they are faster, quicker throroughbreds – just fantastic horses.
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Patrons Abroad
The only problem I find with polo is that I love it so much it has the power to become quite
addictive, it demands so much effort – so, this winter, I am off to Argentina and Beimy and Malcolm
will come with me. This year I am planning to be there for two months, from mid-October to
mid-December. I will use the time to practise polo, which will put us in a good position for the
beginning of next season, I hope. I’m also excited because we are also going to launch a breeding
programme, using embryo transfer, based just in Argentina. We are using some really good bloodlines
and I hope that I will keep a few ponies for myself each year and that we will sell the others. What I’m
looking forward to immensely is being able to play polo in five or six years’ time on ponies that we have
bred on our own programme; that will be a great feeling. Until that day, I will have to continue to buy
horses. When I first began to buy ponies, I was always choosing big horses, because I am quite tall, but
now I tend to choose them because of their abilities; it does not matter if they are big or small, so long
as they are capable. But small horses are great – they are easier because you don’t have to lean so far
to hit the ball! Polo is complicated enough to play without adding extra difficulties along the way.
I will be playing just in Argentina this winter and then just in England next year. Except that I have
heard that the St Tropez Polo Club is putting in an extra two grounds – if that is the case then I will keep
on coming to St Tropez as well. I like coming down here to play in September, it is relaxed at the end
of the season and enjoyable. For me, the weather is amazing, it is a great place, being able to spend the
days you are not playing on the beach is incredible. Great parties, great beaches. When I play in
England, I like to win, but here it is more relaxed for me; if I am losing, it is not the end of the world.
I think if the weather carries on being so bad in England, particularly at the end of the season, more and
more people are going to want to come and play here, it is closer than Sotogrande and has better
weather than Deauville.
I am now 100% based in London, I just travel out to Midhurst two or three times a week, so I
rent a small place closer to Cowdray to have a base for all my stuff and I play there May, June and July.
The rest of the time, I have a lot of work in Asia, Africa and all over Europe, so I travel a lot when I am
not playing polo and try to stay focused on my work. But when it is the polo season I try to be as
dedicated to that as I can.
I have also played in South Africa, in Kurland – it is an amazing place, in an absolutely beautiful
setting. I’ve played in Spain, in Sotogrande and Barcelona, in Switzerland, in Geneva, and of course in
most places in France. I played polo once in Megeve, because of my links with Rothschild, who were
sponsoring there, but I wouldn’t play on snow again, it was difficult for the horses: because of the
surface it is hard to stop them and it was just a different kind of play that I did not like; it also did not
help that from what I could see, we were playing the parking area on a really small pitch. I have heard
that in St Moritz they have a much larger playing area, so perhaps it is better there, but I love to ski,
so when I go to the mountains, I want to go there to ski, not to play polo.
I love sport, polo, skiing, rugby, nautic skiing, watersports, waterskiing – sport has always been a big
part of my life. When I was a teenager, I was very enthusiastic about decathalon, but then I got involved
with rugby. When I was at university I was playing for the Paris University Club (PUC) in the
First Division in France, and we were trained by a guy called Daniel Herrero, he was a super coach.
I knew some great people and actually one of the guys I played with then – Ewen McKenzie – is now
coach of the club Stade Francais; he’s a good mate of mine. Anyway, rugby was still played as an
amateur game at that stage, but it was just turning pro; I considered it as a career, but to be honest I
thought that I just did not have what it took to become a top, top player, so I focused on work instead
and stopped rugby when I was 25. Then I didn’t do any sport at all for five years. When I came back to
start to train again it was quite difficult to get back in shape for polo!
So, next year I will be playing high goal. We have got a team coach, Andrew Hine – after his
success with the England team this year I’m interested to see what he can do for Enigma. We will also
have a fitness trainer to help us and our training is starting soon; she is coming out to Argentina with us
this winter to make sure we keep working there too! More unusually for polo, we will also have
Miranda Banks with us as team psychologist (who is Bath Rugby Club’s team psychologist) – this is quite
common in rugby and football and I think it will be useful for polo as well. Psychologists help to make
the team work, to ensure you are in a relaxed state of mind when you are playing. Sometimes things
that are happening in your private life or your business life can affect what is happening on the field, the
way you come to the game. A psychologist helps to focus: we practise the way we play, so why not
the way we think about the game too Personally, I think polo should be a professional sport, so
because I think this I have to apply the same method to polo as is used in other pro sports. Now, I’m
not saying that it is going to work, but because I want to do it properly; I want to try to do it the pro
“
I have
always taken
any sport
I take part
in seriously
“
74 | THE POLO MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2008

Patrons Abroad
Jerome Wirth and St Tropez Silver Cup fellow player
Shahe Kalaidijan enjoy lunch at Club 55
way and approach it like that. So, I am going
to try it for next season and see how it goes,
but I am convinced that it will have an impact.
I think that in the polo world, there should
be a professional tour, and then a pro-am series
as well, just underneath, which is like all the other
sports I have done. The way it is now means that
there is a lack of sponsorship in the game. I think
making a pro-tour would encourage more
money to the game. It’s not a view that is shared
by a lot of patrons!
We won The Polo Masters this year, and of
course the £50k prize money. I am going to
enter again in 2009, because it is at the beginning
of the season, before the 22 goal starts and it will
be a great opportunity to see how we go – and
of course I hear that they have doubled the
money, which is great! Prize money in polo is
the way forward, the way it should be, I am
absolutely, 100% for it. When we entered the
tournament, I thought that the players were
going to kill each other for the money, but
actually it did not turn out like that at all, they
were all pretty sporting and fair.
We definitely should have different leagues
and get rid of all the patron stuff at the very top
pro level. I don’t think it will be the end of the
patron, it will just mean that the pro league
works without them and will be financed by the
sponsors that they attract. At the moment
nobody really wants to watch a patron playing
and the sponsors are not interested in the game;
what they want to see is four good professional
players. But this is just my point of view. I know a
lot of patrons who don’t agree with me, who
think very differently and dislike the way I am
thinking because they think that it will be the end
of the patron and the end of them having
opportunities to play with the best in the
world, with Cambiaso and other great players.
But that is not what I am saying; of course
not – they can play with Cambiaso in special
pro-am tournaments. Look, I am a patron and
I love playing with guys like Malcolm [Borwick]
and Beimy [James Beim], Mattias [McDonough]
or Ruki [Baillieu], but for them I don’t think the
current system offers them enough. They need a
‘pros-tour’ with prize money put in by sponsors
attracted by their professional skills and profile.
Polo also needs exposure to the media to
increase its profile and I think that can only be
achieved without patron-based teams
attracting the interest. At the moment polo is
not capitalising on the media’s potential, and that
is a shame.
I want the players to develop; this is why in
England I try only to play with British pros.
In France the level of polo is so low, that I can’t
help anyone really, there is only one 5 goaler,
two 4 goalers , eight 3 goalers and that is about
it – in fact there are only about 500 people in
total playing in France, so much less than in
England. This is why I am also keen for
Andrew [Hine] to be our Coach next year;
he can coach Beimy and Malcolm as part of my
team and hopefully this will help to benefit the
England team as well as Enigma. They can be
playing together all the time, practising and if they
play for England together, this is good experience
for them.
Obviously the Argentines are the best in the
world, and if you need an 8, 9 or 10 goaler you
are going to have to have an Argentine on your
team, but I think it is good to try and help players
from Europe as much as possible. I like England
and I like the English players: if they tell you it is
going to cost £X, it will cost £X, sometimes it
can be a very different story with players from
elsewhere! Malcolm is a great Polo Manager;
for me, he is perfect for the job.
I do take polo seriously, but then I have
always taken any sport I take part in seriously.
And don’t forget that I have a major handicap,
I play pretty badly compared to my pros. So I
have to give it 100%; to do all that I can to be as
good as I can. If this means practising and being
as fit as I can be, then I will try 100% on that.
I would love to go on to be a good 2, that
would be great and I’m also really excited about
the breeding programme because I know one
day that I am going to stop playing and it will be
great to see my home-bred ponies playing high
goal; that is something that I certainly would like
to continue long-term. As for my playing future
The day I think that I am going down in my
abilities, I will stop – I’ll do chukkas, but no more
tournaments, I don’t think that I will continue to
play until I’m 50 or 60 years old. But, that’s what
I am saying now, but who knows
76 | THE POLO MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2008