Polo was first played in Iran 2,500 years ago. It spread throughout the Middle East and Asia. British officers stationed in India began playing the game in the 1850’s and exported it to Great Britain, the U.S. and South America. Today polo is played worldwide.
Polo is traditionally played on a grass field by two teams of four players. Players each wear a number, one through four. The object of polo is to score goals by knocking a ball through the opponent’s eight-yard wide goal with a long mallet.
Outdoor polo is played on a grass field the size of ten football fields, 300 yards by 160 yards. The outdoor ball is about 3.5 inches in diameter and made of hard plastic. Arena polo has three players on a team in an arena 100 yards by 50 yards with an inflated leather ball the size of a softball. The goal is ten feet wide.
Persian Polo
Arena polo is a game of short sprints and frequent direction changes. Field polo is faster with long gallops and passes. Polo matches last approximately an hour-and-a-half and are split into periods called chukkas.
POLO FACTS
- The Basics: Polo is a ball sport, played on horses. Where one team attempts to score goals by hitting hard hockey-sized ball through their oppositions’ goal with a mallet attached to the end of a 4 1/4 foot stick.
- The Pitch: The outdoor polo field is 300 yards long and 160 yards wide, the largest field in organized sport. The goal posts at each end are 24 feet apart and a minimum of 10 feet high. Penalty lines are marked at 30 yards from the goal, 40 yards, 60 yards, and at midfield.
- Chukkas: Each polo match is divided in to “Chukkas”. A chukka is 7 1/2 minutes of active play time and is supposed to represent the amount of time a horse can reasonably exert itself before needing a rest. Polo Matches are divided into 4,5, or 6 Chukkas depending whether the level is Low, Medium, or High goal polo.
- Players: In outdoor polo there is four players on a team. Numbers 1 – 2 are traditionally attacking whilst 3 is the midfield playmaker and 4 is Defense. However as the sport is so fluid there are no definite positions in Polo.
- Handicaps: Handicaps in Polo range from -2 to 10 “goals”. With 10 being the best. A player who is playing above his handicap level (i.e. 3 playing as a 5) is known as a bandit, and is a very valuable but short lived commodity. Handicaps are assessed and independently mediated several times during the season.
- Umpires: Two mounted umpires, referee the game. They must agree on each foul/call made, if they disagree they refer to the “3rd Man” who would be on the edge of the pitch in line with the center mark. His decision will settle the argument.
- The Rules: The Rules of polo are centered almost in totality around safety. When you have 1/2 a ton of horse traveling one way in excess of 30mph, you do not want to be hit by 1/2 a ton of horse traveling in excess of 30 mph the other way. Polo is inherently dangerous, which may be part of the allure; however, the rules go a long way to negate risk.