POLO HAS LONG, RICH HISTORY

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30043, 30 January 1963, Page 9

POLO HAS LONG, RICH HISTORY

pounding of horses hoofs and the sharp crack of wood against wood—the sounds of a polo game—will again be heard regularly in Canterbury if the present revival of the sport is successful. Called the game of kings, polo is one of the oldest ball games. Some of the first references to it occur in the literature of the time of Alexander the Great, about 525 B.C. The game spread to Egypt, Constantinople, China and later Japan. The Moghul Emperors took it to India where it flourished during their dynasty. Polo died out in India after the Moghul dynasty. However it was continued in the mountains in the north-east where the English tea planters started playing it about 1850. From here it spread back into India and was played extensively amongst the English regiments stationed there. In 1869 two regiments from India played the first game in England. The first country club was formed in •1872 and Hurlingham, now considered the centre of English polo, started in 1874. During the 1880’s the game spread to North and South America, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe and other parts of the world where units of the British army were stationed.. The New Zealand Polo Association was formed in 1891 and by the turn of the century there were 20 clubs in the country. However, after World War n the game was confined to the

North Island, where there are still about 19 clubs. The main tournament of a New Zealand polo season is the contest for the Saville Cup, which was presented by a Captain Saville in 1889. Since the war New Zealand teams have been sent to Mexico and England and won the Australian gold cup. World War H reduced the following of polo not only in the South Island of New Zealand, but also in many

other parts of the world including England. When armies became mechanised the great training grounds for both players and riders ceased to exist.

The Argentine and other South American countries are considered the leading polo countries of the world today. Large quantities of ponies are bred on the estancias of Argentina specially for the game.

The game is still played In some European countries.

Polo has been included on the programme of the Olympic Games on three occasions. It was won by England in 1908 and by Argentina in 1924 and 1936.

The rules of the game have varied much since its beginning. Even the number of players in a team varied until the present four-man team was introduced when the British Indian Army Inter-regimental tournament was started in 1877. Even today it is common to find teams as large as 13 playing in the villages of northern India. The first rules at the game were drawn up in 1859 when the first “white man's chib” was formed. When polo was being played In many parte of the world at the beginning of the twentieth century the rules differed from country to country.

In 1938 a committee at Hurlinaham. under the fhptrnumtedp of Lord Louis Mountbatten. drew up Inter-

national rules in consultation with the United States, which first issued its rules in 1890, and other countries.

The game is played on a field 306yds by 200yds; if the sides are boarded the width is 160yds. The goals are Byds wide. The players of a team are numbered one to four. Numbers one and two are attacking players and three and four defend.