Polo Explained
by Pam Gleason
Let others play at other things, the king of sports is the sport of kings!
Take eight players, two umpires, ten horses, a vast green field and a little white ball, and you are well on your way to having a chukker of polo. Of course, at a polo game, every player has several more horses back at the trailer, since each game is six chukkers long, and horses usually play just one chukker. The players probably have a groom or two there as well, along with a truckload of saddles, bridles, leg wraps and extra mallets. There are also goal judges at each end of the field to signal whether or not a goal has been scored and to place a ball on the endline if a ball is hit out. Then, there is someone to put the numbers up on the scoreboard, an official on the sidelines to keep time and blow the horn when the chukker is over, an official scorekeeper and the all-important “third man” or referee, who settles disputes between the umpires. Polo is as much a production as it is a sport, and polo players never travel light.
For the player, however, the thrill of the game more than makes up for the huge investment of time and resources it demands. Polo, it has often been said, is not just a game, but a way of life. Once a person is bitten by the polo bug, all of the production surrounding the game fades to insignificance. The only thing that is important is the action on the field and the horses back at the trailer. Polo is all-consuming.
The Team
Each polo team is composed of four mounted players. Players must carry their mallets in their right hands, whether or not they are right-handed. (The United States Polo Association Rule Book – the “Blue Book” – makes an exception for players registered as left-handers with the USPA before January 1, 1974. There are few, if any of these players still out there!) The first object of the game is to drive the ball down the field and into the opposition’s goal. The second object of the game is to prevent members of the other team from hitting the ball into the goal that one is defending.
Each of the four players on the team wears a jersey numbered from 1 to 4. The number refers to the player’s position on the field. Those wearing the Number 1 are primarily offensive players, whose job is to run to goal, hoping for a pass from their teammates so that they can score. The Number 2 is also an offensive player, but he must be more aggressive, breaking up the offensive plays of the other team, and putting “his nose in every play and continually forcing the attack,” according to historic polo legend Tommy Hitchcock. The Number 3 players are usually the strongest players on their teams. Their job is to hit long balls, set up their teammates, plan the plays and make them happen. They also must cover the opposing Number 2s. The Number 4, or Back, is primarily defensive. He covers the opposing Number 1 and generally “shuts the back door” preventing the other team from scoring. The Back must also get the ball to his or her teammates, often by hitting long back shots.
Handicaps
Like golfers, polo players carry handicaps. The handicap is expressed as a number of goals. This number reflects the player’s overall ability on the field, taking into account hitting ability, game sense, team play, horsemanship, sportsmanship and quality of horses. Handicaps run from -2 (beginner) up to 10 (the best in the world.) A “goal” is how many goals a player is theoretically worth to his or her team, but has nothing to do with how many he or she might actually score in a game. All players are assessed and assigned a handicap in the fall. They normally keep this handicap for the next calendar year, although the USPA has recently instituted midyear ratings which are assessed in April and take effect in June.
To arrive at a team handicap, one adds up the individual handicaps of the four players on the team. Three 1s and a 4, for instance, would make a 7-goal team. This team could play in an 8-goal tournament. If they were playing against an 8-goal team, they would start the game with one goal on the scoreboard. Tournaments are classified by how many goals they are. Aiken Polo, for instance, runs the 12-goal Cup of Aiken tournament in the fall; no team may be rated more than 12 goals. The USPA Silver Cup, being played in Aiken this fall, is a 20-goal tournament.
The handicapping system keeps teams that play against one another relatively even and allows players of different abilities to compete on the same field. Men and women are rated on the same scale and regularly play with and against one another on an equal basis. Handicapping also gives rise to the unique “pro-am” aspect of polo. There is very little purely professional polo in the United States. The most usual situation is to have amateurs hire higher rated professionals to play with them in tournaments, thus raising the level of the polo.
The Field
A regulation polo field is 300 yards long by 160 yards wide. Many polo fields (including Aiken’s Whitney Field) are equipped with sideboards, which help to keep the ball from going out of bounds. Although the play stops when the ball crosses the boards, horses and players regularly jump them and keep on playing as long as the ball itself stays on the field. This is why polo fields are marked with a run-off area or safety zone. Spectators must take care not to park their cars or let their children or pets play in this space.
Fields in the American South are planted with a special variety of Bermuda grass that forms a dense, smooth sod. Fields must be mowed frequently. They are also watered, fertilized, limed, aerated and rolled. Serious field maintenance requires a professional crew, but spectators can do their part. At half time and after the last chukker of every game, everyone present is invited to come out and help replace divots kicked up during the action. This keeps the ball rolling straight and makes the play faster and more fun to play and to watch. Everyone does divots, even the Queen of England.