What better way to spend a sunny afternoon than watching a game of polo? If you’ve never had the pleasure, the following will make you an instant aficionado, and you’ll come away feeling as though you’ve been doing it for years!
What to Wear
Anything you like, but don’t blame us if you get arrested. Just don’t frighten the horses!
What to Bring
Something to eat and drink, something to sit on, and this guide. If you bring young children and/or the family dog, please keep them under control, for their own safety.
Stay at least 10 yards from the sidelines of the field, and do not sit at either end, as the horses frequently gallop beyond the edges during play.
The Players
There are two teams, with four players in each team, distinguishable by their shirts. Each team member has a number from one to four; the team captain is always Number Three.
Chances are that at least one player will be female; 12% of players in North America are women.
The Ponies
The real players on the field are, of course, the ponies. A good polo pony must have speed, agility, brains, courage, stamina and a good temper – a very rare and valuable combination!
Most polo ponies today are Thoroughbred stock, for their essential quality of speed, sometimes with some Quarter Horse or native blood.
The typical pony is 15.1 hands high and while this, technically, makes them horses it is traditional to refer to them as ponies.
The Umpires
There will be at least one, and usually two, umpires (also mounted) who control the game. Watch for fouls and award penalties.
The Equipment
The three essential items necessary for polo are a pony, a mallet, and a ball. However, players also wear safety helmets (usually with a face shield to deflect balls), knee pads, gloves for grip, boots for security and comfort, and sometimes spurs.
The well-dressed pony will have leg wraps, matching saddle blanket, tail bandage, a clipped (roached) mane, an English saddle, double bridle, martingale, breastplate, and overgirth.
If you want to learn more about this equipment, a player will be happy to explain. The balls are made of bamboo root, or, more often these days, plastic. They are about 3 inches in diameter and weigh about 4 ounces.
The mallets, 50 to 54 inches long, have a shaft of cane with a hardwood head; the ball is hit with the side of the head, not the end.
The Playing Field
The standard playing field is 300 yards long, and between 160 and 200 yards wide (this makes it the size of nine football fields!), so if you want to be able to see what’s going on in a game, be sure and bring your binoculars.
The goal posts are 8 yards apart (polo has not yet gone metric).
The Throw-in
Each game begins with the two teams lining up in pairs opposite the umpire in the centre of the field.
Each team will be on the side of its own goal. Play starts when the umpire throws in the ball between the two lines.
The Game
Each game consists of either four or six periods, called “chukkas,” lasting seven and a half minutes each.
Play is continuous, even when goals are scored, unless an umpire stops the play on a foul or the ball goes off the field. Play resumes with another throw-in or a penalty hit.
The Rules
Polo is an absurdly simple game; there are no off-sides, and no infield fly balls. All one has to do is hit the ball through the goal, preferably the one belonging to the opposing side. (One thing to remember is that ends are swapped after each goal).
What rules there are have to do with safety of play; obviously the potential exists for causing severe bodily harm (to the ponies that is; as for the players, well, they knew what they were getting into).
The principal rule is that any player following the line of the ball has the right of way over all other players; any violation of this principle is a foul, for which play will be stopped and a penalty (usually a free hit at goal) awarded to the fouled team.
Riding off an opponent, or hooking his mallet to prevent a hit is allowed, and you will see plenty of both throughout the game. The ball can be hit from either side of the pony, in either direction, but the mallet must always be held in the right hand.
The Handicap
If you notice several goals marked on the scoreboard at the start of the game, the scorekeeper isn’t drunk, he’s showing the handicap.
Each player has a rating between -2 and +10; the ratings of each player are totaled for each team and the difference awarded to the team with the lower total. Thus, it’s possible to score more goals than your opponents and still lose.
Half-time
If you see spectators wandering on to the field and stamping their feet, they’re not angry; it’s half-time, and they’re simply replacing the divots of turf kicked up by the ponies flying hooves.
This is a very old and time-honoured tradition. Feel free to join in; it is a most helpful thing to do and is your chance to show that you are on old hand at polo matches. Just watch what you’re stamping on.
