History of Polo
The Introduction of Polo around the world
•600BC: India and the eastern world - the first recorded game took place between the Persians and Turkomans.
The Persians and the Mogul conquerors of India spread the game of polo across the eastern world.
•7th Century AD: China and Japan - polo spread from China to Japan
•16th Century: India - by the 16th Century polo had spread to India
•1869: England - where an account of the game was read in England and the first match organised
•1876: USA and Australia - polo was introduced by James Gordon Bennett Jr, who had seen the game at Hurlingham while on a visit to England. Lt. Col. Thomas St. Quintin, 10th Hussars, introduced the game to Australia - he was the "Father of Australian Polo" and two of his brothers stayed on there as ranchers and helped the game to develop.
The First Polo Clubs
• 1862 - the first polo club in the world was formed by British tea planters at Silchar, west of Manipur. Calcutta Polo Club, the oldest existing polo club, was founded
•1868 - Malta Polo Club was founded due mainly to army and naval officers stopping off on their way home from India
•1872 – the first polo club in England was founded in Monmouthshire by Captain Francis Herbert (1845 - 1922) and the All Ireland Polo Club in Dublin was also founded by Horace Rochfort of Clogrenane, Co. Carlow
•1877 - Meadowbrook Polo Club in the United States was founded
•1876 - a group of polo players established the first formal American polo club, the Westchester Polo Club, at the Jerome Park race track in New York
The First Recorded Polo Matches
•1869 - Hounslow Heath was hastily rolled in order for ‘Hockey or Horseback’ to take place organised by Edward Hartopp, 10th Hussars who was stationed at Aldershot having read about the game
•1875 - the first official match in Argentina took place on 3rd September, where the game had been taken by English and Irish engineers and ranchers
•1876 - James Gordon Bennett introduced the sport of polo to New York City. He organized the first polo match in the United States at Dickel's Riding Academy. The Jerome Park Racetrack in Westchester County was the site of the first American outdoor polo match
•1904 The United States Polo Open Championship evolved
•1926 Open (Hurricanes vs. Argentina) had over 30,000 spectators. A single polo match in the Westchester Cup Tournament was attended by more than 45,000 spectators and the Cup of the Americas in 1928 was viewed by over 100,000 dedicated polo fans
The First Recorded Rules
•1874 the Hurlingham Rules were created. They limited the number of players to five on a team and included the offside rules
•1888. Handicaps were introduced in America
•1910. Handicaps were introduced in England and India
•1919. Height restrictions on polo ponies was abolished
•In the mid 19th century an Irishman, Captain John Watson, of the British Cavalry 13th Hussars, created the first set of written rules for playing polo