INDOOR POLO

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 100, 30 April 1931, Page 11

INDOOR POLO

A CAME FOR THE WEALTHY

UNITED STATES SPORT

(From "The Post's" Reprasentativ*.) NEW YORK, 10th March. Begun in 1915, indoor polo now attracts over 500 players in the United States, mainly in Now York and the eastern, cities. The National Indoor Polo Association is a non-profit making organisation, pays no dividends, no income tax, and though it handles tremendous sums annually, spends them all for,- the advancement of the sport. The game is usually played in the armouries. Horses cost from'£loo to £1200 each, the latter price being paid for Australian Girl,'a noted performer, owned by Winston Guest, a 10-goal handicap member'of the All-America international outdoor team. The game came to America from the days of the ancient Persians, by way of India and the British Army. It is essentially as hard as the outdoor game, though played with three-menu teams, instead of four. They are designated No. 1, No. 2, and .back. The floor is a deep footing of tan bark. The ball is larger and softer, having been a sphere of leather, inflated somewhat "like a football until a new official ball of sponge-rubber, leather-covered, was adopted last season. Mallets and other equipment are identical ■ with.tho outdoor game. Four chukkers, of seven and a nail minutes each, are played, with just time to change horses, with a ten-min-ute rest at half-time. Games are usually played on Saturday night. Teams are classified A, B, C, and D, according to the players' handicaps. Handicapping was originally an American idea, to do away with disproportionate teams contesting one another. The universities, military academics, hunt clubs, and riding clubs make up tho organisation. The audience is of a type with the first night at .the Metropolitan Opera. At a good game one is likely to see a hundred thousand dollars' worth of horseflesh tossing lan bark into a sweeping cloud, while society women call, ".Rifle 1m off," and devotees of the game shout, "Come on fellas, make it snappy."