About Polo

Sometimes called, “The Sport of Kings”, it was highly popularised by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team’s goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played at speed on a large grass field up to 300 yards long by 160 yards wide, and each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. Field polo is played with a solid plastic ball, which has replaced the wooden ball in much of the sport. In arena polo, only three players are required per team and the game usually involves more maneuvering and shorter plays at lower speeds due to space limitations of the arena. Arena polo is played with a small air-filled ball, similar to a small soccer ball. The modern game lasts roughly two hours and is divided into periods called chukkers. Polo is played professionally in 16 countries. It was formerly, but is not currently, an Olympic sport.

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. on May, 6th 1876 organised what was billed as the first polo match in the United States at Dickel’s Riding Academy at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. The historical record states that James Gordon Bennett established the Westchester Polo Club on 6 May 1876 and on 13 May 1876 the Jerome Park Racetrack in Westchester County was the site of the “first” American outdoor polo match.

The founding fathers of American polo were instrumental in establishing and nurturing the sport of polo in the United States. H.L. Herbert, along with James Gordon Bennett and August Belmont financed the original New York Polo Grounds.. H.L. stated in this 1913 article that they formed the Westchester Club AFTER the “first” outdoor game was played on 13 May 1876. This contradicts the historical record of the club being established before the Jerome Park game..

There is, however, ample evidence that the first to play polo in America was actually the English Texans. The Galveston News said on 2 May 1876 that Denison Texas had a Polo Club which was before James Gordon Bennett established his Westchester Club or attempted to play the “first” game. The Denison team sent a letter to James Gordon Bennett Challenging him to a match game. The Challenge was published 2 June 1876 in The Galveston Daily News. By the time the article came out on 2 June the Denison Club had already received a letter from Bennett indicating the challenge was offered before the “first” games in New York.

You can be part of a long history by learning how to play polo with South Bay Polo.