Sunday 22nd June saw the Goldin Group Charity Polo Cup 2014 take place at Beaufort Polo Club sponsored by Goldin Group and its Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club. The Piaget and Royal Salute teams battled it out on the famous field in Beaufort Polo Club, Tetbury, Gloucestershire which brought home a victory for Piaget with a close score of seven goals to five and a half.
The event was honoured to have had two very special guests -HRH Prince Henry of Wales playingfor Piagetand HRH The Duke of Cambridge for Royal Salute. Both took part in the game in aid of their chosen charities Household Cavalry Foundation, Irish Guards Appeal Fund, RFU Injured Players Foundation and Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust.
Piaget:
1. Corinne Ricard (0)
2. HRH Prince Henry of Wales (1)
3. FacundoPieres (10)
4. John Fisher (4)
Royal Salute:
1. Tommy Kato (-1)
2. Luis Escobar (7)
3. Malcolm Borwick (6)
4. HRH The Duke of Cambridge (1)
This display of sportsmanship drew a discerning crowd of over 2,000andthose in attendance were treated to sensational match played by the Princes and some of the best polo players in the world. The day culminated with the Piaget Team and world-class player,FacundoPieres (of the Ellerstina Piaget and also a World Polo Ambassador for Royal Salute)leading his team, which also included female player Corinne Ricard, to a triumphant victory against the Royal Salute team and fellow Royal Salute World Polo Ambassador Malcolm Borwick (member of the England team for more than 10 years).
Lorenza Cavalli, UK Brand Director, Piaget – Official Team Sponsor said, “Piaget created the world’s first charity polo team and, on our 140th anniversary, we wanted to honour this occasion by taking part in such a worthy event as the Goldin Group Charity Polo Cup. We are delighted to be part of the Goldin Group Charity Polo Cup.”
Piaget, Swiss watchmaker and jeweller, and possesses a strong heritage with polo spanning more than three decades. Highlights include sponsoring The Piaget World Cup at West Palm Beach and creating the world’s first charity polo team, Chukkers for Charity, made up of movie stars, which made a horse-back appearance down New York’s 5th Avenue. In 1979, the iconic Piaget Polo watch was born – renowned for streamlined design and seamless integration of the case, bezel and bracelet, it is a harmony of aesthetics and comfort created for high performance.
Neil Macdonald, Global Brand Director of Royal Salute – Official Team Sponsor also commented, “Royal Salute Scotch Whisky is proud to celebrate its fourth year as sponsor of this iconic event, which is in aid of such worthy causes. The power and grace of the game of polo, the skill of the players, integrity and honour are values which are also inherent to Royal Salute whisky.”
Piaget and Polo – The Piaget brand pioneered sponsorship of elite sports under the direction of Mr. Yves G. Piaget, by associating its name with the world of polo in the early 1980s. Dedicated to promoting this extreme sport which reflects its own values of bold and daring, high standards and faultless accuracy – Piaget has been involved in the world of polo at Palm Beach from the start, initially by supporting the World Cup and now by sponsoring the famous USPA Gold Cup named after it.
Piaget has also been present at Punta del Este for several years, by supporting the tournament held at the prestigious Medellin club. It has succeeded in enriching the sport with its very own aura of glamour and its sense of generosity. In the 1980s, Chukkers for Charity, a team composed of movie and TV stars, was engaged in spectacular fund-raising efforts under the Piaget colors. This was a first in the polo world and has left an indelible mark on the collective memory of the sport, including their surprising and unexpected horse-back appearance on New York’s 5th Avenue in 1985.
