Polo

The game—Polo is played both outdoors and indoors.

Outdoors, the field is 300 yards long and 160 yards wide. The goal posts are 24 feet apart. Ten-inch high boards retain the ball on the playing field.

There are four players on a side: Number 1, Number 2, Number 3 and the Back.

The ball is made of willow root or similar hard wood. It is solid and covered with a heavy coat of glossy white paint. The ball weighs approximately 42 ounces and is 34 inches in diameter. (About 4 inch in diameter larger than a baseball and about % ounce lighter than a baseball.)

The ball is hit with the flat side of the mallet head. The mallet head is usually made of maple, sycamore, ash or elm and has a shaft of short jointed tapered cane or Malacca. It weighs about one pound and is about 50 inches long. A cotton tape thong, wound around the thumb, avoids losing the mallet.
 
Indoors, the game is played in a riding arena and, therefore, the size varies considerably. Ideally, the indoor polo arena should be about 100 yards long by 50 wide. Instead of goal posts, the ball is hit against a marked (usually stripes painted on a wall) area on either end of the ring, 10 feet wide. The arena may be enclosed by knee-boards about 32 feet high. The footing is usually tanbark, shavings or dirt or a mixture of these.

The ball is inflated—a leather cover with a rubber bladder—about 12 times as large as the outdoor ball. It looks like a miniature soccer or basketball and is white. Since it is light (6-62 oz.) it "floats" on the uneven footing, where the much heavier and smaller outdoor ball would be lost in it. Since it is lighter, the same stroke will not cause it to travel as far as the wooden outdoor ball and, because of the close quarters, use of the inflated ball is less dangerous to

horses, players and spectators.

The mallet is the same as that used outdoors. There are three players on a side instead of four—Number 1, Number 2 and the Back.

Both indoor and outdoor polo games are divided into a number of periods, usually six outdoors and four indoors. These periods are 72 minutes each and are frequently referred to as "chukkers" or "chukkas" (an East Indian term).

A mounted referee officiates. He throws in the ball when it goes out of bounds or after a goal is scored, calls fouls, and awards penalties for these fouls. In important "cup" or championship matches outdoors, there are sometimes two mounted referees and a dismounted umpire.

CLOTHING AND TACK—All players are required to wear a protective cap. Distinctive "jerseys" or shirts with the number of the wearer's position, white breeches, brown boots and spurs compose the usual polo uniform. Spurs must not be pointed or contain rowels.

The tack used by polo players on their mounts consists usually of a Pelham bridle, a standing martingale and a deep seated flat (English) saddle. The polo pony's legs are usually protected by felt "boots," or bandages. Ponies' tails are usually braided and wrapped to minimize interference with the swing of the mallet.

POLO PONIES—The mount used for polo is commonly referred to as a "pony." However, it is not technically a pony, but rather a small horse. Prior to 1915, the height of polo mounts was limited to 14.2 hands so that they were properly ponies. In 1915, the limit was placed at 15.1 and, since 1920, there has been no limitation as to height. Nowadays, polo mounts are usually from 15 to 15.2 hands in height and usually weigh from 850 to 1150 lbs. These small horses are sometimes Thoroughbreds, but more often w or 2 Thoroughbred.

The most desirable characteristics are speed; handiness (ability to turn sharply and quickly, stop promptly and go on again quickly); stamina and endurance; and a willingness to "ride off" an opponent. The polo mount must also, of course, be used to the swinging mallet and not shy of the ball.

There is a general misconception that a polo pony follows the ball. This is not true. The polo pony is very sensitive to its rider's aids (reins and legs) and particularly his change of balance and, therefore, he seems naturally to follow the ball. Often his rider does not want him to follow the ball.

Polo ponies generally begin tournament play at six years of age and frequently at seven. Occasionally, but not desirably, they begin at five.

Polo ponies' shoes are light and usually made from rim steel bars. The front shoes have no calks; the hind shoes are calked.

THE RULES-A goal counts 1 point.

Fouls are penalized by a variety of free shots for the goal, with or without a defender. Most common fouls are: crossing a player who has the right of way so close that it might cause a collision or be dangerous; pulling across the line the ball is travelling so as to endanger oneself or the player who has the right of way; not giving way to the player who has the right of way when riding from a different direction, and not giving way to two players approaching from the opposite direction; dangerous riding; zigzagging in front of another player at a gallop; stopping or pulling up on the ball; unduly rough play; etc.; dangerous and illegal use of the mallet such as hooking an opponent's mallet across his pony's forelegs or across the back of his mount.

Outdoors, sides are changed after each goal—indoors sides are changed only at the end of each period.

A tie at the end of a game is usually broken by a "sudden death" period of five minutes. The team first scoring a goal in this sudden death period wins the match.

HANDICAPS—Players are handicapped zero to ten. Zero players are the least experienced—ten-goal players  the  most experienced and capable. In any year, there are few ten-goal players; a good half of the some 200 players listed by the United States Polo Association are rated zero; one to four-goal players are the next larger group and only about 10% are rated in excess of four goals. Handicaps of individual players are added together to determine a team handicap. In match play, the team with die lower handicap starts with a score equal to the difference between its team handicap and the opponents' team handicap.

The United States Polo Association lists a handful of "greats"—the ten-goal players:

R. L. Agassiz    Michael G. Phipps
Elmer J. Bostwick, Jr.   Robert Skene
J. E. Cowden   Cecil Smith
Thomas Hitchcock, Sr.             Malcolm Stevenson
Thomas Hitchcock, Jr.              L. E. Stoddard
Stewart B. Iglehart                    J. M. Waterbury
Foxhall Keene                          L. Waterbury
Devereux Milburn                     J. Watson Webb
H. P. Whitney

HISTORY—The game of polo is generally believed to have originated in Persia. Written records and drawings indicate that a contest between mounted men and women, each equipped with a mallet for stroking a ball through goal posts, known apparently as "chaugan" was popular at the Persian court as early as 590 A.D. Records also indicate that the game was known to the ancient Greeks and the Chinese as well as the Persians before the Christian era. The game was common in India before the 16th century. Japan still plays its form of polo, called Dakiu, introduced there from Tibet and China over 400 years ago. Polo was first played in England in 1869 by the 10th Hussars and was adopted by the Hurlingham Club in 1873.

The word "polo" appears to be an adaptation of the Tibetan word "Pulu" meaning a ball. Polo was introduced to the United States by James Gordon Bennett, the famous publisher, in 1876 in New York City, indoors in Dickel's Riding Academy at Fifth Avenue and 39th Street. Not long after, it was played outdoors at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, New York City—later the home baseball grounds of the New York Giants.

The famous Westchester ("National") Cup for competition between England and the United States was first played for at Newport, Rhode Island in August 1886. It was named after the first polo club in the United States—the Westchester Club of New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. The United States was consistently successful in winning the matches for this trophy, taking nine out of twelve.

Most famous sires of polo stock were Prince Friarstown and Christopher Columbus.

ROUND ROBIN—A Round Robin is a polo match in which three teams compete in pairs on the same field in one event. Generally, there are three matches of two or three periods each, e.g., Team A plays

Team B for two periods; then Team A plays Team C for two periods; then B plays C for two periods. The winner is the team which has the best record of matches won or tied—or, in the event of an all around tie, the one having the greatest number of net goals to its credit. PADDOCK POLO—This is, in effect, indoor polo played on an unfinished outdoor field or paddock—three on a side and using an inflated ball, except that there are goal posts instead of the backboard. GOVERNING BODY-The governing body of polo in the United States is the United States Polo Association. It prescribes the rules and regulations of play and handicaps players. The Association sponsors and conducts annual championship tournaments in various handicap classes and an "open" championship. Its headquarters is at 250 Park Ave., New York.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...