The ‘Polopicknick 2006’ in Münster, Germany on 29th/30th July

Faster than hockey, rougher than rugby, sexier than golf … this year ’s Polopicknick in Münster, turned out to be a genuine crowd puller. A total of more than 3,000 polo fans arrived to pay homage to this most fascinating ball game on horseback and ‘sport of kings’.
Lots of families spread out their picnic blankets and settled down alongside the onlookers in the sponsors’ area in glorious sunshine to watch the exhilarating action on the polo field. 6 polo teams took part in the tournament. They provided plenty of exciting play offs, showed respect for their opponents and fairness in the battle for the cup. In the end, the Oeding-Erdel team, consisting of Philipp Maeder (SUI), Carla and Frederico Bachmann (ARG) and Eric Gene (ESP), took the cup for the second time in succession after beating the Schnitzler team in an exhilarating final. Third place went to the MWE team, who won against Viering in the subsidiary final. Two teams shared fifth place honours – the AS Finanz team and the host SX-Capital AG team. Both team captains decided against an extra chukka for the sake of their ponies.
The organiser’s aim, when they came up with the idea for ‘Polopicknick’, was to create a spectacular sporting event that also supported a good cause. They did this by auctioning off an antique carousel horse to Polopicknick spectators. Swiss polo player Philipp Maeder put in the highest bid on horseback just before he went into the final chukka. His 3,000 Euro bid and the proceeds from the tournament will be donated to the German Curatorship for Therapeutic Riding (DKThR).
Rolf Zimmermann from the SX-Capital AG team gave the DKThR organisation the very special gift of a home-bred polo pony. Sacha Eckjans, President of the German Curatorship for Therapeutic Riding was absolutely delighted.
Polopicknick 2006 was a successful combination of sport, charity and entertainment, and a fantastic experience for all involved. The positive feedback gives organisers, Sebastian Schneberger and Roland Albers, every reason to be very optimistic about the future.
It’s already definite that the event will be taking place again next year.
The six Teams and Players were :
MWE :
Dirk Baumgartner(1)
Christian van den Brink (2)
Pablo van den Brink (2)
Bastiaan van den Brink (1)
Total : 7
Schnitzler :
Peter Kienast (1)
Mark Pantenburg (2)
Marcello Caivano (4)
Wolfgang Kailing (1)
Total : 8
Oeding-Erdel :
Philipp Maeder (0)
Sybille Maeder (0)
Frederico Bachmann (5)
Eric Gene (2)
Total : 7
AS Finanz :
Paddy Schleiss (0)
Ian Duchanan (3)
Christopher Kirsch (4)
Dietmar Kirsch (0)
Total : 7
Viering :
Max Bosch (0)
Mathieu van Delden (0)
Hugo Ituraspe (5)
Hathumar Rustige (0)
Total : 5
SX-Capital AG :
Tito Gaudenzi (1)
Sebastian Schneberger (0)
Marten Podesta (5)
N.N.
Total : 6