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look at a game that,
after 2,000 years, is moving from
its status of exclusivity to a media
phenomenon
Two teams, four horses and their
mounts on each side, each facing
an opponent and each ready to
begin, holding a long wooden
mallet. The players are numbered
according to their role: number 1
for principal forward, number 2 for
the second forward, number 3 for
the “playmaker,” and number 4 for
the back. The umpire rolls the ball
to the center of the court – which
is about 300 meters long, the
size of four football pitches – and
the game starts. Seven minutes of
great intensity have now begun.
Each team must work together to
hit the ball and score as many
points as possible during game
time.
A match can last for from four to
eight chukkas (each seven-minute
period of play), with four chukka in
matches played in Italy, from four
to six prescribed by international
regulations, and eight chukkas for
the most important matches in Ar-
gentina, where polo is perhaps not
quite a national sport, but certainly
a sport in which the country has
long enjoyed domination right from
when they won the first Olympic
gold medal awarded for polo, in
1924.
The wooden or plastic ball is 9
cm in diameter and weights about
130 grams. The players, riding
polo ponies – actually horses,
small thoroughbreds specially
trained for the sport – can reach
a speed of 70 km/hour, using the
mallet to pass the ball to another
player or send it into the net. The
sport therefore has a degree of
intrinsic risk, and in fact the first
recorded accident involved Sultan
Qutb-ud-din Aibak, first Muslim
emperor of north India. His rule,
which began in 1206, was ended
when his horse fell during a match
in 1210 and the rider was fatally
injured.
Players are equipped with helmet,
protective facemask, kneepads,
boots and gloves, but the most
dangerous accidents occur when
a horse trips on the legs of another
and falls onto the rider. For this
reason, the rules were compiled
to limit the possibility of collision,
such as the “line of the ball” rule,
which establishes right of way for
a player in accordance with the
path of the ball. A player who has
the line of the ball on his right has
right of way, and so an opponent
tries to move the player off this line
by means of shoulder-to-shoulder
contact. Play is supervised by two
mounted umpires, with a referee
on a platform outside the field who
takes decisions when the umpires
are in disagreement.
Polo has a long history. According
to some historians, it is the old-
est team sport in the world, with
The King of Games is
Game
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MAGAZINE - MARCH 2012