Polo is a team sport played on horseback. The
objective is to score a goal against opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic
or wooden ball into the opposing team’s goal using a long-handled mallet. A
polo match last about one and one-half hours and is divided into timed periods
called chukkers. Each chukker is 7 minutes long.
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 past times 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
sport was introduced into England in 1869, and seven years later, sportsman
James Gordon Bennett imported it to the United States. After 1886, English and
American teams occasionally met for the International Polo Challenge Club. Polo
was on several Olympic games schedules, but was last an Olympic sport in 1936.
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.”
As a rough, disorganized, warlike spectacle
polo has evolved into a highly refined, sophisticated sport, combining all the
excitement of horse racing, hockey and soccer. Polo is played now all over the
planet and over 50 countries worldwide are involved in the game. The dominant
nations are Argentina, the USA and Britain, each of which has a thriving polo
scene and industry. Other polo hotspots include New Zealand, Australia, South
Africa, Dubai and Spain.
One of the most prestigious resorts in Europe
is Santa Maria Polo Club located in Sotogrande (San Roque – Cadiz – Spain).
Polo first appeared in the region in 1965, with the construction of the area’s
first polo field. Today, Santa Maria Polo Club has grown into one of the most
important and prestigious polo clubs in the world. Currently, the club has nine
polo fields, and a number of exercise tracks, boxes, etc... And due to its
location and climate, it is without a doubt and incomparable spot to play polo.
The Summer Polo Tournament is undoubtedly the most elite sport event in Spain,
and one of the most exclusive in the world.
Contrary to popular belief, most polo games are
cheap to watch. Entry to Cowdray Park for its biggest day, the Gold Cup final,
costs under £20 per person in advance. Many smaller clubs around the world don’t
charge entry at all. Most polo clubs are open for public viewing on weekends.
You can enjoy a polo match played by some of the greatest athletes in the world
right rom the sidelines. Just bring a
blanket or beach chair. Polo clubs allow spectators to bring food and drinks.
So pack a picnic lunch of items that will travel well for an afternoon sporting
event. Polo is an outdoor sport, so dress according to the weather. You really
can’t be over or under dressed. Spectators at a polo match wear everything from
jeans to high fashion.
It is customary at polo match to invite the
public onto the field at half time to tread in the divots kicked up by the
horses. Divot stomping is a long standing tradition. Spectators wander all over
the field stomping down the torn up turf. It’s fun and you can meet great
people just wandering the field. Even at high goal tournaments the players
often walk divots to keep limber at the half, and often they take breaks or
change ponies close to the stands. Many times you can say hello to the best
athletes in the world. Just remember not to be too distracting, these are
athletes who need to get back to work.
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