About the Sport

The main part of this book deals with the technique of a proper polo swing. For the sake of completeness and for a broad survey on this sport, we would like to mention some important facts about polo.

The Definition of Polo and the Polo Swing

Polo is an equestrian sport; its object is to score goals or to prevent them against one’s own team. The polo swing is simply defined as hitting a ball with a mallet.

The History

Polo is said to be one of the oldest team sports in the world. The roots of this fascinating sport stretch back to old Persia. First described in about 600 BC, this fast game swiftly spread over the whole Asian continent. In colonial times, the British adopted polo in India and in 1871 it was finally brought to England. There it was given a comprehensive system of rules and regulations (the ruling body was formulated in 1889 from the Hurlingham Polo Committee), which presentday European rules are based on. Many people do not know that polo was an Olympic sport on five occasions and was a real crowd-puller at the Olympic Games in Germany in 1936. There are currently attempts to re-establish polo as an Olympic sport.

As evidenced by historical records, sports like cricket, golf, hockey and others are said to directly originate from polo or have evolved from its variations. The common theme of these variations is the horse, ball and mallet.

All further parameters as to the number of the players, size of the field, tolerable height of the horses, form of the mallet and material of the ball vary from variation to variation.

The Sport Today – A Short Survey

Nowadays, Argentina is considered to be the stronghold of polo. The “Palermo Open”, short for “Campeonato Argentinio Abierto de Polo”, an annual world-class sporting highlight, is held there.

This tournament is dominated by Argentinean players, who have the best breeding, training and competition conditions in the world because of the climate and the rural infrastructure of their country. Frequently at the Palermo Open, teams with a team handicap of +40 play against each other and present the “Perfect Match” on the grass of the famous polo arena in Palermo, a district of Buenos Aires. This famous polo arena holds 15,000 spectators and is also called “La Catedral del Polo”.

The polo field is about 275 meters long and 180 meters wide. The goal posts at the ends of the short sides are 7.3 meters apart, open to the top. When the ball is shot between these posts, a goal has been scored. The field is often contained with boards along its length.

There is a safety zone which extends beyond the side lines and the back line so that a player undertaking a fast maneuver can stop safely. Traditionally, polo is played on grass. The choice of the right sort of grass depends on climate and soil conditions. Increasingly, games take place in arenas, on sand or snow and even on frozen lakes. For theses variants the field is often smaller and the rules are matched to the event and the conditions.

The Ball

A polo ball is within the limit of about 9 centimeters (3 to 3.5 inches) in diameter and weighs about 130 grams. It is made of plastic or compressed bamboo wood. For arena and snow polo events, air-filled leather or plastic balls with a diameter of normally 10 to 20 centimeters are used.

Similar to golf, every registered player has his individual handicap. In polo the players are rated in most countries on a scale from minus -2 goals (novice/beginner) to +10 goals. Official tournaments and championships have no gender-specific classification. The level of the game is regulated by the players’ individual handicaps. It is thus quite common that a mixture of young and old, amateur and pro, men and women are either part of the same team or compete against each other. A team consists of four players and its handicap is the sum of its players’ handicaps. For reasons of fairness, the team weaker by handicap is awarded an advance in goals at the start of the game. This handicap system enables players of different playing abilities to play together.

The Polo Season

In Europe, tournaments on grass fields usually take place from the middle of May to the end of September. The winter polo season starts in January already with tournaments in Austria and Switzerland. The South American polo season runs at the opposite times to the European one. There it begins in September and ends at the end of April. Many professionals therefore train and play on a minimum of two continents and use the different seasons of the two hemispheres.

Handicap Limits, Goal Level of Tournaments

As a rule, three main tournament classes are distinguished between. Internationally, they are currently classified as follows (guideline values of the Federation of International Polo):

Low Goal (team handicap less than +15 goals) Medium Goal (team handicap from +15 to +18 goals) High Goal (team handicap from +19 to +40 goals)

The Players’ Positions

The responsibilities of each team position are as follows: Players 1 and 2 are both attacking and offensive players. Player number 3 should possess top technical skills and play in midfield, whereas player number 4 is valuable in defense.

Each player, or rather each position assigned to a player, has certain responsibilities. In performing these, team spirit, team play and fairness should rank first. Furthermore, besides physical eligibility a polo player should also have patience, decisiveness, discipline, self-control and be even-tempered. These particular virtues were described in a book about horse-riding written by the British author J. Moray Brown in 1891.

The Rules

Besides these “unwritten” rules, the official Rules and Regulations provide quite a few strict rules which serve primarily for the protection and the safety of the ponies as well as that of the horsemen.

Polo is a dynamic and fast-paced sport and it is not uncommon that a horse will run as fast as 60 km per hour in the course of the game. In order to avoid accidents the most important rule is the so-called “right of way”. This can be described as follows: The player following the ball on its exact line has the right of way. He can either be rode off by an opponent travelling parallel only or hooked with a mallet if the ball is between both horses.

There is another important rule: For safety reasons the mallet must be held in the right hand only. A distinctive feature of polo is that teams have to change direction after each goal.

Umpires and Referee

Each game is supervised by two mounted umpires. The referee, who is not on horseback and is often called the “third man”, sits on the sidelines and makes the final decision if the two umpires are in disagreement. The scorekeepers sit about 15–20 meters behind the goal and decide whether the ball went across the goal line or went out across the back line.

Penalties

Depending on the type and degree of the foul, free hits at the goal are awarded. Free hits from the center and from 60 yards are defended, while 40- and 30-yard penalties will be hit at an undefended goal. Another free hit is called “from the spot”, which means it will be taken from the spot where the foul occurred.

A polo match is usually divided into four to eight timed periods. These periods are called chukkas (different kinds of spelling can be chukker, chucker, etc.), and they last seven minutes of actual playing time. A pony is supposed to play a maximum of one complete chukka. However, after a specified rest ponies may come in for another period.

Professional polo players often change their pony after a rapid sprint. Firstly, the deliberate and intentional tactical use of the ponies is often essential for victory, and secondly the ponies should be given the necessary rest so that they keep up their enthusiasm.

Bell

After seven minutes’ playing time the chukka bell is rung. From this first bell another 30 seconds are played. If a foul is whistled on, the ball goes out, or a goal is scored after the first bell, the chukka is ended immediately. If not, the second bell will ring after 30 seconds of added time to end it. The final chukka is always ended by the first bell.

Horsemanship

In spite of many prejudices, the polo horse is seen as a teammate and not as a piece of sports equipment. The quality and the motivation of his pony is the linchpin for a player’s success and his involvement in the game. Often a spectator may get the impression that ponies react to a changing course of the game before the horseman does. In polo circles it is said that the ponies’ proficiency represents at least 80 per cent of the playing quality. At the end of a tournament weekend, the selection of “The Best Playing Pony” and the awarding of a prize in the course of the official ceremony honors and rewards the ponies’ proficiency.

Most of the polo horses (also called “polo ponies“) come from Argentina. Strictly speaking, the polo horse is not a breed but rather a type. Compared to other sport horses, polo horses are considered rather small. An ideal height should be between 150 and 160 centimeters (the breeding standard of the Raza Polo Argentino is 156 centimeters).

The Argentine Association of Polo Pony Breeders, defining a breeding standard and standing for a certain standard of quality, was not founded until 1984. Mainly in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia pure thoroughbreds (gallop racers) are used for polo. Basically, polo can be played with any suitable horse.

A crossbreed between criollos (the working horse of gauchos on Argentinean cattle farms) refined with English thoroughbreds is particularly appropriate. In Argentina, these thoroughbred crosses are often used for working with cattle during their training period. Here they playfully learn the essential qualities a polo pony needs to have: Accelerating swiftly, stopping precisely and being agile. At the same time, condition and surefootedness are thus developed, and the animals’ musculoskeletal system is trained.

After their basic training the horses are gradually made familiar with playing polo. If they have been instructed in working with a lasso, the horses’ familiarization with a polo mallet will not be a problem. Before exporting them abroad, young horses are usually gently brought into games in Argentina. Here, special regard is paid to the fact that the animals develop and gain their play instinct. A young horse’s professional and diligent education and its training are crucial for motivated and powerful horses later.

Polo horses distinguish themselves as being extremely social and having a strong character. In a match, four to six ponies per player are needed. During the playing season the horse’s condition will be trained thoroughly. Therefore, often one horse is ridden while three to five horses trot alongside as hand horses. This training and keeping enhances the horses’ herd instinct and makes them most easy-going in handling.

Completing this fitness training, each horse will usually be given individual training. Besides riding lessons, the so-called “Stick and Ball” will also be exercised to practice both the horseman’s skills and swing technique and the pony’s skills in stopping and turning, so its rideability and permeability are stimulated and refined individually.