James Ashton was appointed interim FIP President on 23rd November 2009 following the sudden resignation of the incumbent, Patrick Guerrand Hermes. Within the FIP community, it was generally accepted that James Ashton would be confirmed as FIP President at FIP's next annual General Assembly.

The respect which James Ashton enjoyed as an international polo administrator began with FIP's 6th 14-goal World Cup championship, contested in Melbourne in 2001 under his direction as President of the Australian Polo Council. The quality of horses loaned by the Australian polo community coupled with his decision to expand the contest from six to eight teams, brought praise from senior FIP officials of the Melbourne tournament as arguably the best since its inception in 1984.

In recognition of his achievement, without consultation and in his absence from the FIP General Assembly which followed, he was elected FIP treasurer, serving successively under presidents Glen Holden and Patrick Guerrand Hermes.

Reflecting the unease of polo spectators and commentators that polo as a spectator sport was declining, coupled with initiatives by the Hurlingham [British] and Argentine Polo Associations to address this by recent "clarifications" of the rules of polo, James Ashton was committed to harnessing FIP under his presidency in support of those same goals.

He was also committed to restoring greater transparency and accountability to FIP's role in developing and implementing policy objectives, in the relationship between the President, his Administrative Council and its 57 constituents, the national polo associations; and to devolving powers from the FIP executive to co-coordinators of FIP's four global zones to initiate and manage zonal tournaments, umpiring and children's coaching clinics. 

In response to James Ashton's death, FIP has received emails from across the spectrum of the global polo community voicing shock and dismay at his death, and paying tribute to his leadership qualities: his calmness, courtesy, to an integrity devoid of any hidden agenda and his willingness to listen to the disparate views of others and to accommodate those views as far as possible within FIP's proscribed goals.

Born in 1941, the eldest son of Irene and James Ashton Senior (captain-manager of a team of four brothers who dominated Australian polo from 1929-39 and who won the Hurlingham [British] Gold Cup Championship in 1937), James Junior took up polo at 21.He rose to a four-goal handicap until a debilitating disease, contracted from cattle, suspended his polo career for 18 years. Following recovery, he resumed polo, contesting the first and second 14-goal FIP World Cups in Buenos Aires and Berlin. He also served as president of his state (New South Wales) polo association (1994-98), assuming the role of mediator between traditional amateur polo clubs grappling with the advent of patron-professional polo.

Polo was just one dimension of a life lived at full throttle. From Sydney University he graduated with a bachelor degree, and during his illness, from the University of NSW with an MBA. In his mid-20s from his father he took over as manager of Millamolong, the family's 8,000-acre sheep and cattle station (to which he later added a vineyard, producing wines which won local and international medals).

In public life he served on the NSW Executive Council of Liberal Party, and in 1977 contested, unsuccessfully, a seat in the national parliament as a Liberal Party candidate. He also served on his local shire council.

In 1965 he married Susan nee Kirkby, who presented him with five children, twin sons, twin daughters followed by a third daughter. To Millamolong he added a polo club, together with paying-guest accommodation in the large family homestead in which he was raised. Millamolong Polo Club offered polo coaching, a ladies international tournament and a tournament in memory of Jamie, one of his two sons, who died in a road accident in 1994.

James Ashton (1941-2010) is survived by his wife Sue, his son Andrew, his daughters Sally, Emily and Georgina, five grandchildren, by his sisters Rosemary Foot and Joan Masterman and his brother Wallace. The FIP community offers his family its sympathy in their bereavement, and commiserates with them in their grief.

"The author of the obituary is Chris Ashton, a cousin of James Ashton, a correspondent for [US] Polo Players Edition magazine, author of Geebung: The Story of Australian Polo..."