Figures and statistics certainly did not play into the hands of the Indios Chapaleufú II people this season, in what refers to the Triple Crown events.
The team formed by the Heguy brothers and Uruguay’s David Stirling (Jr.) was among the group of teams that could be considered as a step below Ellerstina and La Dolfina, together with La Aguada and Pilará but, unfortunately for them, they were not able to translate their performance into terrific results.
At Tortugas, Chapa II had Pilará and La Dolfina in its same zone, and despite having an excellent afternoon’s showing and defeating La Dolfina by a three-goal margin, Pilará it was that finally took charge of this group of teams. To be able to reach the Hurlingham final was a very difficult feat, because the team’s zone rivals were the two 40-handicap outfits and El Paraíso, and in that tournament logic prevailed, so its only win came against El Paraíso.
Finally, at Palermo, Chapaleufú gave proof of its best performance of the season, but the team’s goal-difference did not help matters. In their first match they lost against Pilará by one goal, but after this, in what was probably the best match of this year, Chapa II overcame Ellerstina by 14-13. In its last outing, the team defeated Alegría by a two-goal margin, but the margin corresponding to Ellerstina’s victory over Pilará meant Indios Chapaleufú II did not reach the final.
The eight matches corresponding to the Triple Crown series of events (four wins, four defeats) included 120 goals scored by the team, and 112 scored against them.
“Pepe” Heguy expressed the feelings of the Chapa II foursome, saying that “it was a good year despite the bad weather, rain complicated things quite a bit,” but he assured that “polo improved over last year’s (2008) thanks to the new rules, with a more open polo being played, with matches which brought some surprising results, and so for the spectators all that was more fun to watch, and also for us the players, the bigger teams had a chance of losing against the smaller ones, which led to it being an attractive season.”
Referring to the Abierto Argentino itself, which is the main aim of all polo player, Pepe said that “it was a pity not to have been able to win simply because we didn’t score just one more goal (against Ellerstina, so as to make it into the final), but that was one of the nicer matches that took place on field 1.”
Just as happens at the end of each year, one of the leading matters in polo is the future lineup of the teams. Heguy stated there is still nothing confirmed, but that it all has to do with “Pelón” Stirling continuing in the team: “if he can continue with us, we will be the same team, because the team is playing very well and we all get on very well; however Pelón is very friendly with (Adolfo) Cambiaso and if he invites him to play for La Dolfina, David has always told us that as he owes it all to Cambiaso, so he would have to accept.”
“I hope he can stay with us, otherwise we will see what we do, as things stand now we will be the same team, unless La Dolfina changes its team (something which has already happened, after Mariano Aguerre exited the team), but we are very happy with him being in the team, so we will wait some time more so as to see what happens,” said Heguy.
The hopes in what refers to Stirling remaining at Chapa II are shared by the three Heguy brothers, because for them “Pelón is phenomenal, a very good player and an excellent person... no doubt he will end up playing for La Dolfina because he is a great chap.”
Indios Chapaleufú II, its season:
Abierto de Tortugas:
Thursday, September 24th
Pilará 14 vs. Indios Chapaleufú II 12
Tuesday, September 29th
Indios Chapaleufú II 16 vs. La Dolfina 13
Abierto de Hurlingham:
Thursday, October 15th
La Dolfina 18 vs. Indios Chapaleufú II 17
Sunday, October 18th
Ellerstina 15 vs. Indios Chapaleufú II 12
Tuesday, October 27th
Indios Chapaleufú II 19 vs. El Paraíso 9
Campeonato Argentino Abierto:
Saturday, November 14th
Pilará 16 vs. Indios Chapaleufú II 15
Tuesday, december 3nd
Ellerstina 13 vs. Indios Chapaleufú II 14
Sunday, December 6th
Indios Chapaleufú II 15 vs. Alegría 14
Photos by Ramón Casares, Wildlife Photography
Contact: contacto@ramoncasares.net
You can find these and many more polo images at www.ramoncasares.net
