John Arthur Edward Traill (1882–1958) was the first Irish–Argentine

10-goal A polo handicap is a system created by Henry Lloyd Herbert, the first president of the United States Polo Association, at the founding of the USPA in 1890 so teams could be more evenly matched when using players with varying abilities. The playe ...

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

player. He was born in London 1882. Traill was a member of an old Anglo-Irish landed family, settled in County Down. All of his siblings were born in Argentina, on the family estancia ‘La Esterlina’, in the north of Santa Fe province. In 1913 Traill became the first to obtain the maximum handicap in Argentina of ten goals. He married Henrietta Margaret, from Scotland, and they had children John and James. In the 1920s, he settled in England, where he had a distinguished career and was considered one of the best players of the era. He won numerous tournaments, such as the Ranelagh Championship in London, the Westchester Championship in New York. Traill owned a ranch in Argentina and imported polo ponies for the

Roehampton Club Roehampton Club is a private members’ sports club in southwest London, England. It is set in of parkland, close to Richmond Park. Originally established in 1901 as an officers’ polo club, Roehampton Club has sporting and leisure facilities i ...

, training them in

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

. He was also a coach at

Ham Polo Club 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 Lon ...

when it was revived by Billy Walsh. His name appears as winner of the

Roehampton Trophy The Roehampton trophy is the oldest polo trophy in the United Kingdom. The trophy was first played for at the Roehampton Club in 1902 and was won by Buccaneers. Today it is played for at the Ham Polo Club, the tournament is played for at an 6-goal ...

several times, alongside teammates such as the Marquess of Villavieja, Jack Nelson and

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 at R ...

. Traill won the Argentine Open ten times during his career. He died in 1958.

References

1882 births 1958 deaths Argentine polo players Irish polo players Roehampton Trophy Place of birth missing {{Argentina-polo-bio-stub