Real Club de Polo de Barcelona

Real Club de Polo

Full name	Real Club de Polo de Barcelona
Short name	RCPB
League	Men's División de Honor Women's División de Honor
Founded	1897;128 years ago (1897)
Home ground	Camp Eduardo Dualde, Barcelona (Capacity 1,500)
Website	Club website
Home Away

Real Club de Polo de Barcelona (English: Barcelona Royal Polo Club) is a country club in Barcelona, Spain. Established in 1897, it had 9000 members at the time of the 1992 Summer Olympics. ^[1] Normally used for polo, field hockey, tennis, squash, and swimming by its members. ^[2] the club was the venue for the Olympic equestrian competition (dressage, jumping, and the eventing finals) and the riding portion of the modern pentathlon events. ^[3]

History

The Real Club de Polo de Barcelona was founded in 1897 by a man named Enrique de Iberdrola. De Iberdrola had visited London, United Kingdom and discovered Polo. He returned to Spain and with a few friends, founded the Polo Jockey Club. ^[2] In 1899, they played the first inter-club polo match in Spain against the Madrid Polo Club. ^[4] After this, the club started to branch out to run other sports such as show jumping, tennis, field hockey and paddle tennis. ^[2] In 1912, they received a royal title following their merge with the Barcelona Jockey Club to become the "Real Polo Jockey Club de Barcelona". ^[5] In 1939, they renamed again as the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona. ^[5]

The Real Club de Polo de Barcelona was selected by the Barcelona Olympic Games Organising Committee to host the equestrian events, except the eventing and endurance phase of the dressage, at the Barcelona-hosted 1992 Summer Olympics. ^[3] By this time, the club had 9,000 members. ^[1] 25 years later the club hosted a tribute to the Spanish Olympic team. ^[6] In 1997, to celebrate the clubs centenary, it was awarded a Royal Order of Sports Merit. ^[5] In 2022, to celebrate their 125th anniversary, the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona would be hosting an international Grand Masters Hockey tournament. ^[1] In 2024, they supplied eight athletes for the Spanish Olympic team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France with one equestrian athlete and seven across the men's and women's hockey teams. ^[7]

Grounds

The club first played at the Can Tunis Racecourse but moved to their own dedicated polo grounds in Casa-Rabia in 1909, before moving in 1929 to Torre Melina. ^{[4] [5]}

Current squad

Men's squad

Head coach: Katie Allen

As of 2021–22 ^[8]

Pos. Nation Player   ESP Salvador Armenteras DF   ESP Pablo de Abadal   ESP Alfredo Baron GK   ESP Luis Calzado   ESP Iñaki Zaldua DF   ARG Santiago Tarazona GK   ESP Alberto Carnicer   ESP Alex Reyne   ESP Ton Borras

Pos. Nation Player   ESP Marc Reyne   ESP Javier Cabot FW   ESP Xavi Lleonart   ESP Guillermo Fortuño MF   ESP Marc Miralles   ESP Javier Uriach MF   ESP Viçens Ruiz DF   ESP Llorenç Piera

References

1. "Real Club de Polo de Barcelona set to celebrate 125th anniversary". The Hockey Paper. 5 January 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
2. Howson, Peter (2020). Special Report: Barcelona. The Business Year. p. 139. ISBN   9781912498475.
3. "1992 Barcelona, Spain". FEI. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
4. Laffaye, Horace (2015). The Polo Encyclopedia. McFarland. p. 31. ISBN   9780786495771.
5. "Real Club de Polo de Barcelona" (in Catalan). Federació Catalana de Tennis. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
6. "Homenaje al equipo Espanol de barcelona92" (in Spanish). Ecuestre. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
7. "Ocho deportistas del Real Club de Polo de Barcelona participan en los Juegos Olímpicos de París". Crónica Global (in Spanish). 26 July 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
8. "Equipo". rfeh.es (in Spanish). Real Federación Española de Hockey. 22 November 2023.

External links

• 1992 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 2. pp. 221–24.
• Official website (in Catalan, English, and Spanish)

41°22′54″N2°06′40″E / 41.3818°N 2.1111°E / 41.3818; 2.1111