BRITAIN v. AMERICA

Southland Times, Issue 19345, 10 September 1924, Page 5

BRITAIN v. AMERICA

INTERNATIONAL POLO ENORMOUS INTEREST IN AMERICA PRINCE OF WALES AS A SPECTATOR. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) NEW YORK, September 9. (Received September 9, 11 p.m.). Louis Lacey, a back and captain of the British polo team, is unable to play in the first game against the United States tomorrow, because of illness. Major Atkinson will be at the back, Major Hurndall at No. 3, Major Phipps Hornsby at No. 2 and Major Kirkwood at No. 1. It is likely that Major Hurndall will act as captain. The announcement that Lacey has withdrawn is deemed by American newspaper sporting writers as a very favourable development for the American team. Lacey was to have been captain and was thought by all the best player in the British team. Both teams exercised yesterday, the Americans merely knocking the ball around the field in order to keep their muscles limber, while the Britishers played a scratch team, in which Major Phipps-Hornsby was one of the players and which won by 8 goals to 5. Critics report that the British are improving daily, and if Lacey could only participate the outlook would be good for a close contest. Popular interest in the tournament, which is the primary cause of the visit of the Prince of Wales, is the greatest ever seen in this country. Notwithstanding the postponement of the first game from last Saturday, practically no tickets, of which 40,000 were sold, have been returned. The second match is set down for Saturday and the third for next week, probably on Wednesday. This Royal interest in polo is no new development. Kings and emperors have played the game for 2000 years. But, like other sports, it has become democratised, and in America it is rapidly coming to the front as a popular game. Its supporters claim that it is easy and exhilarating to watch, and consequently a good revenue earner, and that it costs less to maintain a polo field than golf links. They argue also that it may save the horse from extinction in a land where men go to work in motor-cars and racing is only one among many sports. Persia and China dispute the claim to priority in the game, but the former is generally regarded as its home. From Persia it spread west to Turkey, and east to India, China, and Japan. The game flourished in India in the sixteenth cenutry, and it was there that Britain acquired it through the cavalry regiments of Lancers and Hussars. In 1870 a Home Army team played the two Indian regiments in Richmond Park, and thereafter polo was the accepted sport of the cavalryman. The game reached America six years later, and the first match between Britain and America for the Cup was played at Newport in 1886. The Cup went to Britain. American attempts to recover it in 1900 and 1902 failed, but in 1909 a third attempt was successful, and British challenges in 1911 and 1913 were defeated. In 1914 Britain won back the Cup. The years of war followed, and there was no match until 1921, since which year America has held the trophy. Thus the game, which had been the sport of kings and emperors for centuries, became the Army’s possession, and is now passing to the people. would expect a sport which has persisted for 20 centuries to reflect its age and its history in changed forms and manners. But, in fact, the main features of polo are much the same now as they wqre years ago, and the ponies ridden today are the same type as the 13.2 mounts that the Chinese obtained from Mongol nomads in the seventeenth century. Fifty years ago a Prince of Wales took part in a polo meeting at Hurlingham. And it is certain that among the crowd who will watch the first match for the Cup there will be no one more interested than the present Prince.