Gaucho Polo at the o2

21^st March 2012, Gaucho hosted The GauchoInternational Polo at London’s O2 arena, uniting high-octane polointerspersed with live world famous music to produce a unique event never seen before in Britain.

The 2012 event consisted of two international arena polo matches merged with exclusive performances from Grammy award winning band, Bajofondo.  Celebrity attendees enjoying the music and matches included: Katie Price and Leandro Penna, Denise van Outen, TOWIE’s Lydia Bright and Lauren Pope and Take Me Out’s Zoe Hardman.

The matches saw Scotland narrowly beat Welbeck Group’s Ireland by 15-12 and culminated in the titanic clash between IG Index’s England and Argentina, pitting Britain’s finest player, Jamie Morrison against the Royals’ favourite star, Nacho Figueras.  This exciting match saw England finally triumph with a 1-0 victory on penalties, after full time finished at 15-15. 

The Gaucho International Polo was a true Argentine festival, with tastings from some of the country’s finest wine producers, brought to the event by leading authority, Wines of Argentina. There was also a fun and charitable twist to the event in the form of “The White Jeans Party’ organized by Royston Prisk,  What to wear to polo matches has often been hotly debated amongst the style conscious, but white jeans are winning in the fashion stakes with enthusiasts such as Prince Harry donning them at matches around the world. In keeping with this, for every guest who arrived at the event wearing a pair, a pound was donated to the BFF (British Forces Foundation).  

Gaucho Polo Olympic Campaign

Argentine restaurant group Gaucho are so passionate about polo that they have backed a campaign to see polo reinstated as an Olympic sport in time for London's 2012 games. They are organising The Gaucho International Polo at The O2 Arena on 21st March this year and are keen to prove that polo is a game which should be accessible to all and is no longer purely the domain of the wealthy.  So much so that they have drafted and sent petitions calling for the reinstatement of polo as an olympic sport to Boris Johnson and, not stopping there, to the International Olympic Committee.  They also sent their Gaucho Polo Team mascot, dwarf shetland pony Barnabus down to City Hall to drop off their petition personally (see attached photo).  Although notoriously difficult to gain reinstatement it is not impossible, with golf and rugby set to be counted once again as Olympic sports. The Gaucho International Polo has attracted much support from celebrities as it is donating £1 to the British Forces Foundation for every pair of white jeans wore and celebrities including JLS,  the Made in Chelsea cast and rugby legends Kenny Logan and Simon Shaw have been lending their their support to the campaign.  Notable players competing are Nacho Figueras, who regularly plays with Princes Harry and William and one of England's finest and Gerri Halliwell's ex Jamie Morrison. On the night of the event all visitors will be asked to sign a petition calling for polo's reinstatement as an olympic sport.