A fair and unknown game.

         A few  weeks ago a great Polo tournament took place in Argentina,”El Gaucho Polo Club”, which was won by a Chinese club.

So, even if it is not a really famous sport, it is international and many polo clubs have been created in our country in the last ten years.

            In fact this sport appeared 2500 years ago in China. It was the first sport which needed balls and a mallet. Some people even say that it was the first team sport.

Then it developed in Persia, Arabia, Japan and Greece.

In 1859, Joe Sherer, a British man, discovered polo in India. He created in 1863 the Calcutta Polo Club.

After India, polo became popular in England. The first European polo match took place in 1869 at Hounslow Health. The “Hurlingam Polo Association” was founded in 1875.

            Then this sport spread in United States, Argentina, New Zealand, and European countries.

            Its rules are quite complex. In this game there are two teams of four jockeys, who have to throw a plastic ball in the versus goals with mallets.

It is played on a pitch 275 metres by 145 metres, which has posts at its extremities in order to symbolise goals.

A polo match is divided into about five periods of seven and a half minutes. Between them the jockeys can rest during three minutes while  their horses are changed.

The jockeys must wear a helmet and leather kneepads.

They receive a “handicap” according to their levels of ability.

            We can say that this sport concerns mainly rich people who can afford a good horse. It is for example Prince Charles’ favourite sport.

Yet polo remains a very interesting sport, which combines aesthetic qualities and physical performance.

It requires to be very fair-play and even if it seems like a sort of “historical” sport, it is popular and developed all around the world.

Stéphanie Paret