Polo

thumb|The Sport of Kings Polo, often called "The Sport of Kings", is a ball game played on a grass, or dirt, field where two teams of players on horseback use long-handled mallets to attempt to drive the ball between the opposing team's goal post. Polo, now popular around the world as a spectator sport for Equestrianism equestrians and high society (social class) high society, is professional sport played professionally in 16 countries. From 1900 to 1936 polo was an polo at the Summer Olympics Olympic sport. Quotes But, it may be asked, why is the game popular? What makes it so? Why do men spend money and risk life and limb simply for the sake of knocking a ball about from the top of a pony? To such quests I would propound another question. What makes hunting popular? what cricket, football, Rackets (sport) racquets, or any other manly sport or pastime? Is it not because they bring to the front the exercise of manhood's physical powers and encourage that spirit of generous rivalry which must benefit all those who take part in such games? And if a further reason be needed it may be supplied by just that element of danger without which we are part to consider any sport or pastime tame, for very true are Adam Lindsay Gordon Lindsay Gordon's lines:—        No game was ever worth a rap            For a rational man to play        Into which no accident, no mishap,            Could possibly find its way.As such, polo as a game must always appeal to the manhood of our nation, and particularly to soldiers, bringing to the front as it does all of the qualities of courage, endurance, the ability to give and take, added to the calmness and judgment necessary in those who follow the profession of arms. J. Moray Brown (1848–1894), Polo publisher Read Books Ltd 2017 9781473340039 Chapter I. The Popularity of Polo https://books.google.com/books?id=rKcyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP19 (1st published in 1895 by Vinton & Company; illustrations by Cuthbert Bradley) In all probability polo developed from rough equestrian games played by the mounted nomadic peoples of Central Asia, both Iranian and Turkic. In Afghanistan such a game survived into the twentieth century. In its original form buzkashi was a dusty mêlée in which hundreds of mounted tribesmen fought over the headless carcass of a goat or a calf. The winner was the hardy rider who managed to grab the animal by the leg and drag it clear of the pack. … In the 1960s a tamer version of the game was developed under the auspices of the National Olympic Committee, … but in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of 1978 the original rough version experienced a renaissance in the refugee camps of Pakistan. In 1998 the puritanical Taliban outlawed the game in those parts of Afghanistan which they controlled. In the neighbouring region of northern Pakistan another form of polo has survived to this day. … But it was further to the west, in Iran (formerly known in the West as Persia), that polo was developed into the game it is today, played with a wooden stick, Chovgan chowgān, and a round ball, guy. In time the word chowgān came to denote the game itself. … Houchang Chehabi H.E. Chehabi & Allen Guttmann, From Iran to All of Asia: The Origin and Diffusion of Polo The International Journal of the History of Sport 19 2-3 2002 384–400 10.1080/714001752 He ... persuaded Savill Park Sir Eric Savill, Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park, that polo would be just the thing for Guards Polo Club#Overview Smith's Lawn. He then induced a polo enclave from Henley-on-Thames to move and join him at Windsor where, in due course, this enterprise became the Household Division or Guards Polo Club Guards' Polo Club. Right on the Elizabeth II#Marriage Royal Family's weekend doorstep, it has proved highly convenient ... Tim Heald, Philip: A Portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh illustrated William Morrow & Company 1991 9780688101992 212 (274 pages; 1st part of quote; last part of quote) The game of polo is connected with the development of Silk Road equestrian civilization. It was gradually refined and systematized from the nomadic lifestyle. In the process, it developed into a court game and was slowly passed on to women and to common people as folk games such as ground polo. One such example is changch’igi, or stick tossing game, performed by ordinary people on the Korea Peninsula during the late Joseon Chosŏn Dynasty (Kim 2004). Therefore, it would be reasonable to understand polo as a cultural complex formed on the Silk Road after a historical transformation process of exchange and compromise, not as a unique prototype. Persia, Turkey, Tibet, China, and Central Asia are central for those who want to nd the original form of polo. There are literary resources, archaeological data, and traces of actual play in these countries (Laffaye 2009, 5). However, this cannot specify where polo originated. Rather, it is likely that it started simultaneously or collectively among Iranian and Turkic cultures in various regions of Central Asia. Tschung-Sun Kim, professor of religious studies at Keimyung University, Polo: A Cultural Code for Understanding the Silk Road Acta Via Serica June 2019 4 1 125–146 10.22679/avs.2019.4.1.125 (quote from p. 126) The origins of the game of polo are shrouded in the mist of history. China, Iran, Manipur, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Tibet all claim to be the birthplace of polo. It can be safely assumed that it began as a simple folk game played by the nomadic tribes in central Asia. Westward and eastward expansion followed, to Byzantium and China, most likely along the trail of the legendary Silk Road. Southwards, the game moved into Tibet, India, Assam, Manipur and Burma, now Myanmar. As to the word polo, it derives from the Tibetan po-lo or po-long, in reference to a ball made of willow, but also applied to the playing field or the game itself. Horace Albert Laffaye, The Evolution of Polo illustrated McFarland 2009 9780786454150 https://books.google.com/books?id=9i-bgOjaVysC&pg=PA5 5 (364 pages; foreword by Nigel à Brassard) Along with his Corps duties and academic challenges, Patton practiced on the rifle range to improve his marksmanship and competed in fencing to sharpen his skills. He also joined the cadet polo team, discovering firsthand how this how this sport could give him an automatic entry into the elite world of senior officers and high-ranking civilians. Despite suffering a small bone fracture in his left arm that put him on the sidelines for five weeks and prevented his making the team, Patton learned the value of polo. Michael Lee Lanning, Patton in Mexico: Lieutenant George S. Patton, the Hunt for Pancho Villa, and the Making of a General Simon and Schuster 2023 9780811770736 https://books.google.com/books?id=a9WEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 20 (280 pages) When the Prince of Wales reaches Argentina he will be presented with the five polo mounts winning at the annual Argentine Live Stock Show, and therefore regarded as the best in the country. There will be a number of special matches played, and the date of the great show has been advanced four days to enable the Prince to attend. Wilf P. Pond, Turf, Field & Ring The Spur July 1,1925 XXXVI 1 https://books.google.com/books?id=VJcK-JKcnT4C&pg=PA110 110 External links Polo Riding Basics Denver Polo Club November 11, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsUA1vCYEFI Polo - The Gentleman’s Sport Horse Network, YouTube March 11, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TIKAG8D-bY The Rules of Polo - EXPLAINED! Nihn Ly, YouTube October 7, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrJ6WdoM8zQ Category:Sports