Polo

Lore & Background

Polo is a traditional field sport played on horseback, making it one of the oldest known team sports. The outdoor version takes place on a grass field measuring 300 by 160 yards, while indoor or arena polo uses a smaller dirt arena of 300 by 150 feet. Players use a wooden mallet to strike a ball between the opposing team’s goal posts, often riding at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, which demands expert horsemanship. A standard outdoor game lasts one and a half to two hours, with two teams of four players competing in four to eight seven-minute periods called chukkas or chukkers, during which players may change mounts. The team with the most goals wins. The game’s progenitor was an equestrian sport called Chovgan, played in Persia and Central Asia from the 6th century BCE to the 1st century CE. Its modern form was developed in India before being adopted by the Western world. Often called “The Sport of Kings,” polo is now a global spectator sport popular among equestrians and high society, supported by sponsorship. Over 100 countries are members of the Federation of International Polo, and it is played professionally in 16 nations. Polo was an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1936.

Reader's Guide

Polo is a stick and ball game played on horseback, one of the oldest known team sports. Its progenitor, Chovgan, originated in the greater Iran region and was played from the 6th century BCE to the 1st century CE. The game was formalized in ancient Persia, where it became a national sport for the nobility, with both men and women participating. It received great patronage under the Parthian and Sasanian empires, forming part of royal education; Emperor Shapur II learned to play at age seven. Valuable for training cavalry, polo spread from Constantinople, where Emperor Theodosius II built a ground in the 5th century, to Japan by the Middle Ages, and south to Arabia, India, and Tibet. In the Islamic world, elites of the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties favored it; sultans like Saladin and Baybars played, and polo sticks appeared as a suit on Mamluk playing cards. The game reached China via the Silk Road, flourishing in the Tang dynasty capital, where women played wearing male dress. In South Asia, polo had a strong presence in northwestern areas of present-day Pakistan from at least the 15th century. The modern form developed in India, where Manipur played a Tibetic-named variant with indigenous ponies, influencing the sport’s name. A European polo club was established in Silchar, Assam, in 1859. Today, outdoor polo is played on a 300-by-160-yard grass field with two teams of four players, using wooden mallets to drive a ball between goal posts at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, lasting one and a half to two hours. Known as "The Sport of Kings," it is a spectator sport for equestrians and high society, with over 100 member countries in the Federation of International Polo and professional play in 16 nations; it was an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1936.

Did You Know?

• The English name 'polo' comes from the Balti-language word for 'ball', cognate with Tibetan 'pulu'.
• Emperor Theodosius II built a polo ground in Constantinople in the early 5th century.
• Saladin was known as a skilled polo player, and polo sticks appeared as a suit on Mamluk playing cards.
• The oldest polo ground in the world is the Imphal Polo Ground in Manipur, recorded from 33 CE.