FROM CAPTAIN TO COMMENTATOR
Thirty-Five Years Later, He’s Still Calling the Shots
Thirty-five years ago, William Crisp came to Newport to captain England. This Saturday, he’ll man the microphone. It is a rather perfect full-circle moment for one of the enduring characters of the Newport International Polo Series. Crisp led the first English team to Newport during the Series’ inaugural season—and what began as an international sporting assignment soon became something considerably more lasting: a love affair with Newport and its reigning ‘IT Girl’, and a lifelong romance with its most charming muse, polo.
Crisp, quite simply, never really left. Over the ensuing decades, he became a familiar and beloved voice at Newport Polo, bringing to the commentary booth the same quick eye, dry English wit and encyclopedic understanding of the game that once served him on the field. Visiting players and international teams recognize what Newport audiences have long known: when William Crisp calls a polo match, you are listening to one of the foremost authorities on the craft. He even wrote the book on it—Polo Commentating—turning the notoriously difficult art of calling a fast-moving match into a discipline all its own.
Nor does his storytelling—or hospitality—stop at the sidelines. When Newport Polo has ventured abroad, Crisp has come along as the colorful host and narrator of our docutravel video series, guiding viewers through the personalities, places and occasional escapades of polo around the world. Equal parts raconteur, polo historian and traveling companion, his unmistakable commentary has helped tell Newport Polo’s story both at home and far beyond it.
And when England comes to Newport, he is still very much the host, opening his own home to the visiting team and entertaining the latest generation of English players, just as he has helped welcome so many before them.
So as England returns during our 35th season and 150th Diamond Jubilee, there is something wonderfully fitting about its original captain overlooking the field once again. The players have changed, the passports have accumulated and generations have passed, but Crisp remains woven into the story—still hosting the English, still entertaining Newport, still telling the tale and, naturally, still calling the shots.