CYCLE POLO SPORT CLUB
Cycle Polo - A Guide
Two underlying concepts govern the game of polo.
The first is that Cycle Polo is a tactical team sport with either 3(indoor or enclosed arena) or 4(full size ground) players a side.
- Like all tactical team sports, each player fills a specific role and supporting the team effort on both offence and defence.
- The objective of the game is for a team to score the most goals by hitting the ball through their goal posts at the end of the ground.
- Like other high contact team sports such as Rugby or Football, defensive plays, such as "riding off" and "hooking" are important defence tactics and can result in fouls, which incur penalties.
- Normally, polo is played on an outdoor polo field.
The second is "the line of the ball". This is the imaginary line the ball creates as it travels from point A to point B.
- This "line" determines the strict rules about how players can approach and attack the ball and each other, ensuring that the players and cycles, traveling at 10mph when at top speed, do not collide resulting in serious injury or damage to either player or cycle.
- When two players ride to the ball, both hoping to hit it, they must ride on either side of the "line" so that both will have access to the ball. They must remain on opposite sides of the line, thus minimizing the risk of collision.
- The line remains set until a player, changes direction, strikes the ball and a new line is formed.
- A player may cross the line only when it does not create a hazardous situation such as a collision with another rider. This may result in a foul and consequent penalty being awarded.
Team Positions and Tactics
Team members are numbered 1 to 4 (or 3 in Arena polo) with No 1 being the attacking or offensive player and No 4 being the back or defensive player.
In Indoor or Arena polo, the pivotal player on the team is the No 3, as he must stem the opponent's offense, turn the play to the attack, and pass the ball up-field to his No 2 and No 1 player, as they turn to press the penetration toward the enemy goal.
The No 1 player concentrates on opportunities for scoring, but also has the defensive responsibility for the opposing No 3 player. The No 2 team member supports No 3 on the pivotal plays, turns quickly to follow the No 1 player on attack, and harasses the opposing No 2 player.
Outdoors the No 4 player is primarily responsible for defending the team's goal. These assignments are not rigid, and each player must be prepared to make any play that will benefit his team, temporarily changing position as the pattern indicates.
Scoring and Rules
There are general rules covering everything from the size of the ball to the colours of the team shirts, and field rules setting regulations for actual playing situations. When a foul occurs the umpires can award anything from a free goal to a free hit from a distance determined by the severity of the foul. See the Polo Rules section for a comprehensive list of rules.
Scoring is accomplished by putting the ball across the goal line between two goal posts 24 feet apart.
Three umpires, two on cycles and one on the side of the field, oversee the game and enforce the rules. Infractions generally involve hazardous riding and dangerous use of the mallet. Umpires can be recognised by their shirts, which have vertical black and white stripes.
Chukkas
The full game is 8 periods, but often in club matches 4 or 6 periods are played.
They are 7 minutes each in length, plus a 30-second overtime. Each period is called a "chukka". The brief periods are necessary due to the stress placed on polo ponies who will spend a great deal of that time galloping up and down a 300 meter ground.
Each player in high goal (top level professional) tournaments uses a fresh cycle for each chukka because the game is played at a very fast pace, cycling much of the time. In club games, players may play 2 chukkas in a match.
Should an overtime be required, a seventh mount may be called upon, or a player may go back to his best mount of the day. Three minutes are generally allowed between chukkas to change cycles.
Indoor or Arena Polo
Indoor polo follows the same basic principles, but requires a different strategy due to the limited amount of space involved. The outdoor polo field is the area as set out in the rules. The indoor polo arena is only about 100 yards long and 50 yards wide
Three players instead of four are used on a team. All must be committed to the attack when the team is on offense, but they must be prepared to revert instantly to the defense if the play should turn to the other team. Close coordination is essential between players and rider in indoor polo since they must constantly stop and go at high speed.
Polo Equipment
The Player's Gear
A helmet
Long boots and knee guards to protect the legs when riding off or if hit by a mallet
Gloves to protect the hands
The Mallet
The bamboo mallet, used to hit the ball, is about 51 inches long (or as set out by the club rules)
The woodenhead is put on at a 77.5 degree angle so that it will lie flat on the ground when hitting the ball.
The Ball
The side of the mallet strikes the wooden ball, 10 inches in circumference or (as set out by the Club rules, depending on the age group of the players)
Indoor or Arena polo uses an tennis ball or a similar ball; because an Arena is smaller than an outdoor polo ground, this makes it safer in a confined space. It is leather covered with a circumference of 14.5 inches.
The Cycle and Gear
Polo is played using a standard cycle suitable to the player's height.
Wheel rim covers are sometimes used as an important safety precaution when the cycles are traveling at high speed.
Mud-guards are removed to lighten the cycle. Comfortable seat covers are recommended for player�s comfort and stability during the game.
Cycle Polo - The Throw In
The game begins with a throw-in at midfield at the beginning of each chukka and after each goal.
Teams line up facing the umpire who tosses the ball between them
Polo Shots
Offside Forehand
This stroke is used most often because it produces the most powerful drive.
Nearside Neck Shot
This shot is used to clear the ball for a harder stroke, set up plays for teammates and attempt a shot at the goal from a different angle.
Offside Tail Shot
This is used to clear the ball when it is behind the cycle. Like the neck shot, the ball is hit with more of a flick of the wrist than use of the entire arm.
Nearside Backhand
This is another basic stroke. It is also important because players are not allowed to switch mallet hands and must play right handed.
Nearside Back Shot
This is a difficult shot to do well, but once it is mastered, it is the second most powerful stroke in use
Defensive Plays
Riding Off
Two players following the line of the ball and riding one other off have the right of way over a single man coming from any direction.
This is a basic defensive maneuver where the player urges himself and/ or his cycle to shove an opponent's mount away from the ball, allowing the player or a teammate to get a clear shot. Also a player will ride off an opponent who is about to strike the ball.
Hooking
As a player attempts to make a shot to hit the ball, an opposing player may use his mallet to hook the mallet of the other player. A Player may hook fairly if is he is on the side where the stroke is being made or directly in front or behind the striking player.
Polo Fouls
Crossing the Line
The straight line represents the path of the ball, represents the path taken by the player. An opponent crossing the path of the player with close proximity to administer a nearside backhand or back shot is a foul.
This creates a dangerous situation and is a foul, which will incur a penalty.
Using an Elbow when Riding Off
A player may not use his elbow when playing another player off the ball.
Illegal Hooking
A player may not use his elbow when riding another player off the ball.
Dangerous Cycling
The player shall not create a dangerous situation by crossing the front wheel of his cycle with opponent's rear wheel. This may cause a fall or entanglement.
Player Talk
"Take the man first!"
Polo is a game of tactics and strategy. Often, it is tactically more advantageous to "take out the man" by riding them off the ball or keeping them away from the ball or the line, rather than trying to hit or chase the ball. This call from a teammate means take the man, and don't go for the ball because they are probably in a better position to take a shot if that rider is taken out of action and away from the ball.
"Turn it!"
This call by a teammate tells a player than he or she has got time, because there are not opposing players nearby, to turn the ball in the direction of their goal rather than hitting it backwards. This allows the player to get into better position to strike the ball.
"Tail it!"
A teammate will call this when he or she is in position to take a
passed shot from the player in front. When a player steals a ball
from the opponents he will need to hit it back towards to the cycle's
tail since that is the direction of their teams goal.
A Short History of Polo
Polo is thought to have originated in China and Persia around 2,000 years ago. The name of the game may well come from the word �pholo� meaning 'ball' or 'ballgame' in the Balti language of Tibet.
The first recorded game took place in 600BC between the Turkomans and Persians (the Turkomans won). In the fourth century AD, King Sapoor II of Persia learned to play, aged seven. In the 16th century, a polo ground (300 yards long and with goalposts eight yards apart) was built at Ispahan, then the capital, by Shah Abbas the Great.
The Moguls were largely responsible for taking the game from Persia to the east and, by the 16th century, the Emperor Babur had established it in India. (It had already long been played in China and Japan, but had died out by the time the West came in contact with those countries). In the 1850s, British tea planters discovered the game in Manipur (Munipoor) on the Burmese border with India. They founded the world�s first polo club at Silchar, west of Manipur. Other clubs followed and today the oldest in the world is the Calcutta Club which founded in 1862.
Malta followed in 1868 because soldiers and naval officers stopped off there on their way home from India. In 1869, Edward "Chicken" Hartopp, of the 10th Hussars, read an account of the game in The Field magazine while stationed at Aldershot and, with fellow officers, organised the first game. Then known as "hockey on horseback," it was played on a hastily-rolled Hounslow Heath where a shortlist of about 10 rules was also hastily assembled.
But, it was John Watson (1856-1908), of the 13th Hussars, who formulated the first real rules of the game in India in the 1870s. He later formed the celebrated Freebooters team who won the first Westchester Cup match in 1886. He was a key player at the All Ireland Polo Club which was founded in 1872 by Horace Rochfort of Clogrenane, County Carlow.
The first polo club in England was Monmouthshire, founded in 1872 by Captain Francis "Tip" Herbert (1845- 1922), of the 7th Lancers, at his brother's estate at Clytha Park, near Abergavenny. Others, including Hurlingham, followed quickly.
Handicaps were introduced by the USA in 1888 and by England and India in 1910.
The first official match in Argentina took place on 3rd September 1875. The game had been taken there by English and Irish engineers and ranchers.
In 1876, Lt Col Thomas St.Quintin, of the 10th Hussars, introduced the game to Australia. He is credited with being the Father of Australian Polo. Two of his brothers stayed on there as ranchers and helped the game to develop. In the same year, polo was introduced to the USA by James Gordon Bennett Junior who had seen the game at Hurlingham during a visit to England.
Today, more than 77 countries play polo. It was an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1939 and has now been recognised again by the International Olympic Committee.
For the Newcomer to Polo
The Rules of the Game
The Teams
On a full sized grass field, each team has four people (five if desired by players)
In an enclosed arena, each team has three people
The Ground
The ground is 300 yards long, 160 yards wide if boarded. Being boarded means the field has a 12 inch upright board bounding the perimeter which stops the ball rolling out of play easily.
If the ground is unboarded, it is 200 yards wide and marked with a white line.
However, the length and width of the ground may vary as per availability.
The goal posts, positioned at each end, are 8 yards apart.
Duration of the Play
The full game is 8 chukkas, but often in club matches 4 or 6 chukkas are played.
Each chukka is timed to last 7 mins, then a bell is rung, but the game goes on until the ball goes out of play, or for another 30 seconds when the bell is rung again, the chukka ends where the ball is.
The clock is stopped between the umpire's whistle to stop the play and the whistle to start play (eg. ball out of play, foul etc.)
There are intervals of 3 mins between chukkas and 5 mins at half time. Ends are changed at every goal scored - this has been found fairest when there is a wind.
Handicaps
Each player is handicapped (on a 4-6 chukka basis) from -2 up to 10 goals (the top professional players).
The aggregate handicap of the four players in a team is the team handicap. e.g. if all players have a handicap of 2 goals each, the team handicap is 8 goals and is referred to as an '8 goal team'.
In handicap tournaments, if both teams do not have an equal aggregate handicap, one team is given a number of goals start which is calculated as follows: the number of goals start is obtained by multiplying the difference between the two teams' handicaps by the number of chukkas and dividing by 6, any fraction counting a half a goal.
Players
Players can play two chukkas in an afternoon with a rest of at least one chukka in between.
Fouls
A player following the ball on its exact line has the Right of Way over all other players. Any other player who crosses the player on the right of way close enough to be dangerous commits a foul.
Penalties vary according to the degree of danger and closeness of the cross.
No player may hook an opponent's stick unless he is on the same side of the opponent's cycle as the ball.
Dangerous play or rough handling is not allowed - a player may ride an opponent off, but must not charge in at an angle.
Penalties
The following penalties may be given
A goal is given if the cross is dangerous or deliberate in the vicinity of the goal. The ball is then thrown in 10 yds in front of the goal without ends being changed.
Free hit from 30 yds opposite the centre of the goal - defenders to be behind the back line and outside th6 goal posts but must not ride through when the ball is hit.
Free hit from 40 yds, same conditions as b).
Free hit from 60 yds. Defenders to be 30 yds from ball.
Free hit from the centre of the ground, none of the defending side to be nearer than 30 yds when the ball is hit.
Free hit from spot where the foul took place, no defender to be nearer than 30 yds
Corners are not taken as in Association Football - instead, a free hit is given 60 yds from the goal from a spot opposite where the ball was hit behind the line, none of the defending side to be nearer than 30 yds.
Captains of teams are the only players who can discuss questions arising during a game. No player shall appeal in any manner to the Umpire for fouls, but Captain can discuss any matter with the Umpire.
