William Francis Walsh (1907–1992) was an Irish

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

player. He is regarded as one of the three key figures in the post war revival of the sport of polo in the United Kingdom. He single-handedly restarted Ham Polo Club in 1946.

Early life

Like so many of the pioneers of

in the western world Billy Walsh was an Irishman, born in County Kilkenny. In the 1920s he went to the USA where he gained his initial skills and a talent that was to take him to 5-goals by 1928.

Polo career

In 1933, Walsh went to work for

Major Philip Magor Major Philip Magor (1881–1971), was a British polo player and patron of the Panthers Polo Team as well as owner of La Estrella Ranch in Argentina. Magor and the Panthers won the Roehampton Trophy. Biography He was born in 1881 and educated a ...

training the many Argentine polo ponies imported by Magor to Roehampton Polo Club. Walsh became recognised throughout the polo world for his skills in making polo ponies - it has been said that his handicap could have been much higher had he spent more time playing, rather than training. In 1936, Captain Tom Brigg, owner of the Equestrian Centre at Ham Gate and member of the Swaine Adney Brigg family, invited Walsh to run his stables and teach polo there. Three years later he joined the cavalry and, after his army service returned to Ham to find that Capt. Brigg had died and that the Equestrian Centre was for on the market. Using his gratuity, he bought the stables and revived Ham Polo Club under HPA rules. Walsh was on the winning team with Ham Polo Club in 1947 in the first polo tournament to be played in post war England. The team took home the prestigious Roehampton Trophy. In 1977, Walsh gave up the game. It was not until 1982 though that he gave up the position of manager of Ham Polo Club to become the President. He has been succeeded as manager by two generations. Firstly his daughter Peggy Healy and secondly his grand son Tim Healy. The

Billy Walsh Tournament Ham Polo Club is a Hurlingham Polo Association polo club situated in Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is one of the oldest polo clubs in the United Kingdom and the last surviving club in Lond ...

is still played at Ham Polo Club today, the finals are held in September. The

Hurlingham Polo Association The Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA) is the governing body for polo in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and many other countries. The Federation of International Polo produces the International Rules of Polo through a coop ...

blue book noted in tribute to Billy that it was due to his 'initiative, determination and enthusiasm that Ham Polo Club grew and flourished under his patrician eye" In 1985, on

International Day Lists of holidays by various categorizations. Religious holidays Abrahamic holidays (Middle Eastern) Jewish holidays *Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread – 7 days of consumption of matzo with wine and avoidance of leavened foods ...

, the Queen presented Walsh with a bronze of a polo player and pony, donated by his many friends in recognition of his lifelong work. At the 2007 Audi Polo Awards, the La Martina Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Walsh for his contribution to the sport.http://www.audipoloawards.com/voting.html

Family

Walsh was married to Ivy and had two children, Peggy and Brian. Their daughter Peggy married actor David Healy. They had two sons William and Tim, who are both polo players.

References

External links

Hurlingham Polo Association
- Governing body of the sport in the UK & Ireland
Ham Polo Club Blog
- News and Reviews of matches and tournaments at Ham Polo Club {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Billy Irish polo players Roehampton Trophy 1992 deaths 1907 births Irish emigrants to the United States