Why Is Polo Important?
The sport of polo, in which mounted players hit balls with mallets to score goals, is commonly associated with the British Empire. In fact, however, it originated in Central Asia, and may be the oldest recorded team sport in history. The long, rich history of polo, “the game of kings,” gives it a special importance in the world of sports.
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Beginnings
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The origins of polo are thought to lie in the domestication of the horse by the ancient Iranian tribes of Central Asia and the spread of the use of light cavalry throughout the Iranian plateau, Asia Minor, China and the Indian sub-continent, according to the Iran Chamber Society website. It is thought by some scholars that polo originated sometime before Darius I and his cavalry forged the first great Persian Empire in the 6th century BCE.
Purpose
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After the tribes of Central Asia domesticated wild horses, they migrated to Persia and mastered the art of warfare on horseback. Polo was developed to practice their maneuvers, according to Argentina Polo.com. In Persia it was taken up as a training method for the king's elite cavalry, and matches could resemble a battle with 100 men on each side.
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References in Literature
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Persian art and literature give the richest accounts of polo in antiquity, according to the Iran Chamber Society. The most famous of Iran's poet-historians gives accounts of royal polo tournaments in his 9th century epic, Shahnameh (Epic of Kings). However, the best-known references to polo by a Persian poet are the ones in Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyats, where the game is used to illustrate philosophical points.
Spread
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Persia expanded its empire across Asia during the 5th century BCE, bringing the horse and polo to China, Japan and Tibet, according to Argentina Polo.com. “Polo” comes from "pulu," the Tibetan word for ball. As it spread, the game was adopted by kings, emperors, shahs, sultans, khans and caliphs, becoming known as “the game of kings.” The reference is to a verse inscribed on a stone tablet next to a polo ground in Gilgit, Pakistan, near the silk route from China to the West, that reads, “Let others play at other things. The king of games is still the game of kings.”
Western Adoption
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Polo was introduced to India, largely by the Moguls, by the16th century, according to the Ascot Park Polo Club website. India was the point of Western contact with the game, when a game at Manipur was observed by the British. In 1869 an officer with the Tenth Hussars, Edward “Chicken” Hartopp, read an account of the game in a sporting journal and organized a version of the game with his fellow officers that followed hastily established rules. Polo quickly became a standard part of the British cavalry officer's training, and in 1874 London's Hurlingham Club formulated a set of rules, many still in use today, according to Argentina Polo.com. The game was introduced to America by the publisher James Gordon Bennett, who brought it to New York in 1876.
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References
- Photo Credit Polo Players image by Clarence Alford from Fotolia.com
