It took some time … 19 years after its inauguration the Polo Park Zurich opens the new clubhouse and the new polo infrastructure of the 14 hectare property in Seuzach with three polo fields, 57 stables and a horse roundabout.
It was in 1998 when the Zurich trust manager Markus Gräff founded the Polo Park Zurich in Unterohringen to avoid the long driving distance to Schaffhausen, where he played polo before. At that moment a true odyssee began for Markus Gräff, who was facing an endles series of approval procedures and problems with the local public authorities. For almost 20 years the Swiss authorities rejected the build of of a clubhouse and the needed polo infrastructure. Four years ago Gräff sold the club to the French investor and enthusiastic polo player Sébastien Le Page.
The 45-year-old ex Glencore-coppertrader has now completed the longlasting big project. Le Page, who is also the owner of the Zug Rugby Club, invested around 10 Mio. Swiss Francs in the Polo Park Zurich. Several times a week he and his wife Morgan Van Overbroek play polo at their club and put up with the driving distance from their home in Zug to Seuzach. Morgan: „We play six times a week, and sometimes we do not want to take the whole way back home. Therefore one of the nine appartments in the new clubhouse is reserved for us.“ With 30 active members the polo club in Unterohringen is the biggest of all five polo Clubs in Switzerland in terms of quantity of players. Beside the 57 stables, further 60 horses are lodged at farmhouses in the close neighbourhood.
Ten polo tournaments per year are supposed to be set up at the Polo Park Zurich. As well coachings and classes for single players or groups will be offered. „We want the Polo Park Zurich to be a place which is not only open to our members but a place of encounter“ say Sébastien Le Page and Morgan Van Overbroek. Young and old people, families, horsefans and of course active polo players shall enjoy the atmosphere and feel comfortable.
