Polo
Polo is
believed to have emerged about 2500 years ago. It is one of the most
fascinating sports in the world. Polo combines equestrian sport with hockey and
golf. Riders on the specially trained horses with mallets, resembling a hockey
stick or a club try to score with a small wooden or plastic ball. According to
Goel and Goel (1995), the game appeared in Persia (Iran) about 5th century BC.
Singh and Kapoor (2007) state that ancient Persians knew polo,
and it was known in China of the Tang Dynasty too (p. 10). Both women and men
played polo. The famous poet, philosopher, and historian Ferdowsi noted polo in
his poem Shahnameh, written in the 9th century.
Polo was a
popular sport game in the Byzantine Empire, Egypt, India, Central Asia, and Far
East from the ancient times. The first polo club emerged in Silchar (state of
Assam) in 1834. Polo emerged in Britain from the Indian state of Manipur, when
it was known as one of the forms of the hockey sport with seven players from
each team. Specially trained horses of 52 inches in height and long sticks were
necessary for the game. Each player stroke a wooden ball with the stick to the
end of the field. Lieutenant Sherer is considered to be a father of the modern
game. He was in Manipur and played polo there in the 1850s. In 1901, the Viceroy
of India, Lord Curzon established the length of the polo ground at 225 yards,
and its width at 110 yards. Captain Robert Stewart and Major General Joe
Shearer organized the first polo club in 1862. It was called the Calcutta Polo
Club. Then, polo emerged in Britain, and the Hurlingham Polo Association was
established as the governing body of the polo game. In 1874, the Association
developed the first rules of polo.
Nowadays,
polo is a very popular game in Argentina, where it emerged in 1875 among
British settlers and spread among the local gauchos. Asociacion Argentina de
Polo was established in 1892, as the River Plate Polo. The Argentinian team:
Juan Miles, Enrique Padilla, Juan Nelson, Arturo Kenny, G. Brooke Naylor, and
A. Pena won the gold medal in the Olympic Games in Paris (1924). In 1936, the
Argentinian team won the second gold medal on the Olympic Games in Berlin.
Since that time, the Argentinian team is considered to be one of the strongest
teams in the world. Thus, Adolfo Cambiaso, Lucas Monteverde, Mariano Aguerre,
and Bartolome Castagnola were the strongest players of the season 2009-2010.
Facundo Pieres, Gonzalo Pieres, Pablo Mac Donough, and Juan Martin Nero were
the strongest players of 2009. There are three major tournaments in Argentina:
Hurlingham Polo Open, Tortugas Polo Open, and Palermo Polo Open, lasting from
October till December. Polo is a favourite game in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, the
United States of America, the United Kingdom, and India. In addition, there are
four polo clubs in the UAE, 3 located in Dubai and one located in Abu Dhabi.
The polo season in the UAE starts at October and ends in April during the
winter.
The modern
polo ground is 300 yards long and 160 yards wide. Goals are situated at the
opposite ends of the field. The goal posts stand at the distance of eight
yards. There are two kinds of polo: outdoor and indoor. The outdoor polo has from
four to eight chukkas. Each chukka lasts seven minutes and has 30 seconds in
addition. An interval between chukkas lasts four minutes. An interval in the
middle of the game lasts ten minutes. Polo is stopped for penalties, equipment change,
or in the case of injured players or horses. The aim of the game is to score
goals by the ball. There are four players in the outdoor polo.
The indoor
(arena) polo takes place on the ground of 300 feet long and 150 feet wide in
the arena for equestrian sports. The minimum size of the arena is 150 feet long
and 75 feet wide. A ball for polo is about 3 to 3 and a half inches and 3 and a
half to 4 and a half ounces. The indoor polo differs from the outdoor one the
sizes of the field, the ball (larger), the goals (smaller), and penaltes. Each
team number has his or her position in the field and a task. Number 1 is an
offensive player. Number 4 is a defensive player to defend the goal. Nowadays, made
teams have a female as a Number 4 player. Number 3 is a captain or quarterback.
Numbers 2 and 3 are the highest-rated players. Each player has a mallet to
drive the ball. Nowadays, about 75 countries in the world play polo.
References
Goel, G., & Goel, V.
(1995). Encyclopaedia of sports and
games. New Delhi: Tarang Paperbacks.
Laffaye, H. A. (2011). Polo in the United States: a history. Jefferson
NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Polo Museum (n.d.) “Two
heads, four legs and one heart”, The
Origins of Polo. Retrieved from http://www.polomuseum.com/history_of_polo.htm
Singh, J., & Kapoor, P.
(2007). Polo in India. London: New
Holland Publishers.
