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POLO (Tibetan pulu, ball)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 12 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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POLO (Tibetan pulu, See also:ball) , the most See also:ancient of See also:games with stick and ball. See also:Hockey, the Irish See also:national See also:game of hurling See also:History. (and possibly See also:golf and See also:cricket) are derived from polo. The latter was called hockey or hurling on See also:horse-back in See also:England and See also:Ireland respectively, but historically hockey and hurling are polo on See also:foot. The earliest records of polo are See also:Persian. From See also:Persia the game spread westward to See also:Constantinople, eastwards through See also:Turkestan to See also:Tibet, See also:China and See also:Japan. From Tibet polo travelled to See also:Gilgit and See also:Chitral, possibly also to See also:Manipur. Polo also flourished in See also:India in the 16th See also:century. Then for 200 years its records in India cease, till in 1854 polo came into See also:Bengal from Manipur by way of See also:Cachar and in 1862 the game was played in the See also:Punjab. There have been twelve varieties of the game during its existence of at least 2000 years. (I) A See also:primitive See also:form consisting of feats of See also:horsemanship and of skill with stick and ball. (2) See also:Early Persian, described in Shahnama, a highly organized game with rules, played four a See also:side.

(3) Later Persian, 16th century, the grounds 300 by 170 yds. See also:

Sir See also:Anthony See also:Shirley says the game resembled the rough See also:football of the same See also:period in England. (4) The game in the 17th century in Persia. A more highly organized game than No. 3, as described by See also:Chardin. (5) The See also:Byzantine form played at Constantinople in the 12th century. A leathern ball the See also:size of an See also:apple and a racquet were used. (6) The See also:Chinese game, about A.D. 600 played with a See also:light wooden ball. The See also:goal was formed by two posts with a boarding between, in the latter a hole being cut and a See also:net attached to it in the form of a bag. The side which See also:hit the ball into the bag were the winners. Another Chinese form was two teams ranged on opposite sides of the ground, each defending its own goal.

The See also:

object of the game was to drive the ball through the enemy's goal. (7) The See also:Japanese game, popular in feudal times, still survives under the name of Dakiu, or ball match. The Japanese game has a boarded goal; 5 ft. from the ground is a circular hole I ft. 2 in. in See also:diameter with a bag behind. The balls are of. See also:paper with a See also:cover of pebbles or See also:bamboo fibre, diameter 1 7 in., See also:weight 1i oz. The sticks are racket shaped. The object is to lift over or carry the ball with the racket and See also:place it in the bag. (8) Called rol, played with a See also:long stick with which the ball was dribbled along the ground. (9) Another ancient See also:Indian form in which the sides ranged up on opposite sides of the ground and the ball was thrown in. This is probably the form of the game which reached India from Persia and is represented at the See also:present See also:day by Manipur and Gilgit polo, though these forms are probably rougher than the old Indian game. (To) See also:Modern See also:English with heavy ball and sticks, played in England and the colonies and wherever polo is played in See also:Europe. Its characteristics are: offside; severe penalties for See also:breach of the rules; See also:close See also:combination; rather See also:short passing; See also:low scoring, and a strong See also:defence.

(II) Indian polo has a lighter ball, no boards to the grounds, which are usually full-sized; a modified offside-See also:

rule, but the same See also:system of penalties. -It is a quicker game than the English. (12) The See also:American game has no offside and no penalties, in the English sense. The attack is stronger, the passing longer, the See also:pace greater and more sustained. American players are more certain are very slight, and they tend to assimilate more as See also:time goes on. Polo in the See also:army is governed by an army polo See also:committee, which fixes the date of the inter-regimental See also:tournament. The semi-finals and finals are played at Hurlingham. The earlier ties take place at centres arranged by the army polo committee, who are charged by the military authorities with the See also:duty of checking the See also:expenditure of See also:officers on the game. The value of polo as a military exercise is now fully recognized, and with the co-operation of Hurlingham, See also:Ranelagh and Roehampton the expenses of inter-regimental tournaments have been regulated and restrained. The See also:County Polo Association has affiliated to it all the county clubs. It is a powerful See also:body, arranging the conditions of county tournaments, constructing the handicaps for county players, and in See also:conjunction with the Ranelagh See also:club holding a polo See also:week for county players in See also:London. The London clubs are three—Hurlingham, Ranelagh and Roehampton.

Except that they use Hurlingham rules the clubs are See also:

independent, and arrange the conditions and See also:fix the See also:dates of their own tournaments. Ranelagh has four, Roehampton three and Hurlingham two polo grounds. There are about 400 matches played at these clubs, besides members' games from May to See also:July during the London See also:season. At present the Meadowbrook still hold the See also:cup which was won Inter- by an English team in 1886. In 1902 an American national team made an See also:attempt to recover it and failed. Polo. They lacked ponies and combination; but they bought the first and learned the second, and tried again successfully in 1909, thus depriving English polo of the championship of the See also:world. Polo in England has passed through several stages. It was always a game of skill. The See also:cavalry regiments in India in early The Game. polo days, the 5th, 9th, 12th and 17th Lancers, the loth Hussars and the 13th Hussars, had all learned the value of combination. In very early days regimental players had learned the value of the backhanded stroke, placing the ball so as to give opportunities to their own side. The duty of support- See also:ing the other members of the team and See also:riding off opponents so as to clear the way for players on the same side was understood.

This combination was made, easier when the teams were reduced from five a side to four. See also:

Great stress was laid on each See also:man keeping his place, but a more flexible See also:style of See also:play existed from early days in the 17th Lancers and was improved and perfected at the See also:Rugby Club by the See also:late See also:Colonel See also:Gordon See also:Renton and See also:Captain E. D. See also:Miller, who had belonged to that See also:regiment. For a long time the Rugby style of play, with its close combination, short passes and steady defence, was the See also:model on which other teams formed themselves. The See also:secret of the success of Rugby was the close and unselfish combination and the hard See also:work done by every member of the team. After the American victories of 1909 a bolder, harder hitting style was adopted, and the work of the forwards became more important, and longer passes are now the rule. But the See also:main principles are the same. The forwards See also:lead the attack and are supported by the See also:half-back and back when playing towards the adversaries' goal. In defence the forwards hamper the opposing No. 3 and No. 4 and endeavour to clear the way for their own No.

3 and No. 4, who are trying not merely to keep the ball out of their own goal but to turn defence into attack'. Each individual player must be a See also:

good horseman, able to make a See also:pony gallop, must have a See also:control of the ball, hitting hard and clean and in the direction he wishes it to go. He must keep his See also:eye on the ball and yet know where the goal-posts are, must be careful not to incur penalties and See also:quick to take See also:advantage of an opportunity. Polo gives no time for second thoughts. A polo player must not be in a See also:hurry, but he must never be slow nor dwell on his stroke. He must be able to hit when galloping his best pace on to the ball and able to use the See also:speed of his pony in See also:order to get pace. He must be able to hit a backhander or to meet a ball coming to him, as the See also:tactics of the game require. Polo has given rise to a new type of horse, an See also:animal of 14 hands 2 in. with the See also:power of a See also:hunter, the courage of a racehorse and the docility of a pony. At first the ponies were small, but now each pony must pass the Hurlingham See also:official measurer and be entered on the See also:register. The English The Polo system of measurement is the fairest and most Pony humane possible. The pony stripped of his clothing is led by an attendant, not his own See also:groom, into a See also:box with a perfectly level See also:floor and shut off from every See also:distraction.

A veterinary surgeon examines to see that the pony is neither drugged nor in any way improperly prepared. The pony is allowed to stand easily, and measuring See also:

standard with a spirit-level is then placed on the highest point of the See also:wither, and if the pony See also:measures 14.2 and is five years old it is registered for See also:life. Ponies are of many breeds. There are See also:Arabs, Argentines, Americans, Irish and English ponies, the last two being the best. The Polo and Riding Pony Society, with headquarters at 12 See also:Hanover Square, looks after the interests of the English and Irish pony and encourages their breeders. The English ponies are now bred largely for the game and are a blend of thoroughbred See also:blood (the best are always the See also:race-winning strains) or Arab and of the English native pony. AUTHORITIES:—Polo in England: J. See also:Moray See also:Brown, Riding and Polo, See also:Badminton Library, revised and brought up to date by T. F. See also:Dale (See also:Longmans, 1899) ; Captain Younghusband, Polo in India, (tad.) ; J. Moray Brown, Polo (See also:Vinton, 1896); T. F.

Dale, The Game of Polo (A. See also:

Constable & Co., 1897) ; Captain Younghusband, Tournament Polo (1897) ; Captain de See also:Lisle, See also:Durham Light See also:Infantry, Hints to Polo Players in India (1897) ; T. B. Drybrough, Polo (Vinton, 1898; revised, Longmans, 1906); Captain E. D. Miller, Modern Polo (19o4); H. L. Fitzpatrick, Equestrian Polo, in See also:Spalding's Athletic Library (1904); See also:Major G. J. Younghusband, Tournament Polo (1904); T. F. Dale " Polo, Past and Present," See also:Country Life; See also:Walter Buckmaster, " Hints on Polo Combination," Library of See also:Sport (See also:George Newnes Ltd., 1905 ; Vinton & Co., 1909) ; Hurlingham Club, Rules of Polo, Register of Ponies; Polo and Riding Pony Society See also:Stud See also:Book (12 vols., 12 Hanover Square).

Annuals: American Polo Association, 143 See also:

Liberty See also:Street, New See also:York; Indian Polo Association, See also:Lucknow, N. P.; Captain E. D. Miller, D.S.O., The Polo Players' See also:Guide and Almanack ; The Polo See also:Annual, ed. by L. V. L. Simmonds. Monthlies: See also:Bailey's See also:Magazine (Vinton & Co.); The Polo Monthly (See also:Craven See also:House, Kingsway, London). Polo in Persia: Firdousi's Shahnama, translated as Le Livre See also:des rois by J. See also:Mohl, with notes and See also:comm.; Sir Anthony Shirley, Travels in Persia (1569); Sir See also:John Chardin, Voyages en See also:Pease (1686), ed. aug. de notes, &c. See also:par L. Langles, 1811; Sir See also:William See also:Ouseley, Travels in Various Countries of the See also:East, particularly Persia (181o). There are many allusions to polo in the poets, notably See also:Nizami, Jami and See also:Omar Khayyam.

Polo in Constantinople: See also:

Cinnamus Joannes See also:epitome rerum; ab Joanne et Alexio Commenis gest. (See also:Bonn, 1836). Polo in India: See also:Ain-i-Akbari (1555); G. F. See also:Vigne, Travels in See also:Kashmir (Ladakh and Iskardo, 1842); Colonel Algernon See also:Durand, The Making of a Frontier (1899). Polo in Gilgit and Chitral: " Polo in Baltistan." The See also:Field (1888); Polo in Manipur, Captain McCulloch, Manipuris and the Adjacent Tribes (1859). (T. F.

End of Article: POLO (Tibetan pulu, ball)

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