PL
Photo by Douglas J. Vergara
Quick Facts: v Polo is a ball sport, played on horses.
T HE O RIGINS of Modern Day Polo “Let others play at other things. The king of games is still the game of kings.” - 16th Century Stone Tablet in Gilgit, Pakistan
v The field is the largest field in any organized sport. v Each polo match is divided into 7 minute chukkers. v In outdoor polo there are 4 players on a team. v Handicaps in polo range from -2 to 10 "goals." v Two mounted umpires referee the game. v The rules of polo are centered around safety.
Polo is arguably the oldest recorded team sport in known history, with the first matches being played in Persia over 2500 years ago. Initially thought to have been created by competing tribes of Central Asia, it was quickly taken up as a training method for the King’s elite cavalry. These matches could resemble a battle with up to 100 men to a side. As mounted armies swept back and forth across this part of the world, conquering and re-conquering, polo was adopted as the most noble of pastimes by the kings and emperors, shahs and sultans, khans and caliphs of the ancient Persians, Arabs, Mughals, Mongols and Chinese. It was for this reason it became known across the lands as "the game of kings.” British officers themselves re-invented the game in 1862 after seeing a horsemanship exhibition in Manipur, India. The game was introduced in England in 1869 and in America by 1876. The United States Polo Associ- ation was established in 1890 to coordinate games, standardize rules and establish handicaps. Polo is now played around the world in over 75
countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. In 1998, the Federation of International Polo was established. Polo continues as it has done for so long, to represent the pinnacle of sport and reaffirms the special bond between horse and rider. The feeling of many of its players is epitomized by a famous verse inscribed on a stone tablet next to a polo ground in Gilgit, Pakistan: "Let others play at other things. The king of games is still the game of kings.” n
14 | Polo Life Magazine ® | 2021 | Tinicum Park Polo Club
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