Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-11-12

MGOVERN AND DIXON.
Last winter determined effort was
made by several promoters, chiefly
men connected with baseball matters,
to introduce the game of roller polo
/ into some of the larger cities Of the
east outside of New England. There
was no need of acquaint.ng the people
! with the fascinating winter sport, for
I they have had flourishing clubs leagues
for years of the New England States
with this past
New York was one of the cities in
which club was formed, and, from
the standpoint of popular interest, the
venture succeeded admirably. Finan-
cially, however, the game did not come
| up to expectations. The cause which
initiated against the success of that
/ phase of the enterprise was unforeseen
! and could not well have been avoided.
i AS rule, when a new game is
sprung it takes some time for the pub
lie to catch on to the fine points which
! constitute good playing In this case,
/ however, it was not so. The New York
/ audiences Immediately caught on and
| vigorously applauded every good
stroke.
Simplicity is the first feature of roller
polo that strikes the onloOker. There
are no technicalities beyond, of course,
the element of team work involved in
every sport of such character. Polo
is combipation of hockey on the ice
and shiny. 1t is, however more ex-
citing and faster than either Of these
/ games.
| The reason that the game was q
! financial failure was because some Of
the cities in the league, among them
Philadelphia and Newark, gave up
early in the season owing to losses on
the first few games. They couldn't
stand the gaff. If they had kept up
and had been willing to sink little
more money, they wuuld have been
fairly certain to reap a rich harvest
| this winter.
When the Newark and Philadelphia
i teams fell by the wayside, the New
Workers, of course, couldn't play out
! their schedule, which they had extern
| sively advertised, and they were obliged
| to take on smaller clubs. Now Tho
nothing and wouldn't pay to see games
| with second rate teams. AS a result,
although the exhibitions could have
been made extremely popular had the
original circuit been maintained, the
promoters ultimately lost some $4,000.
| All this is apropos of the fact that a
movement is on foot looking to the in
| PRODUCTION of polo into eight of the cit
| les of the major baseball league. Ar
| thur Irwin of the Washington club is
| at the head of the matter and has the
| promise of several rich men to finance
! the affair. The circuit, according TO
| present plans is to include Boston, New
York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chi
cago, Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Balti-
more, although this list is subject to
| change, as st. Louis may take the place
of one of the cities mentioned
If the scheme goes through, the cream
Of the players of the New England
league will be engaged for the new
| teams. Some arrangement win be made
with the various club owners by which
they will be paid for the release of
their crack men. This plan will be
! similar to that which prevails between
| the National Baseball league and the
| smaller organizations
| Mr.. Robert Conn, who was one of the
| promoters of the New York Roller Polo
| club last season, is still very enthusiast
| tic over the possibilities of the game in
| that city There never was a sport he
says, that took hold of the public so
| quickly. One of the indications of its
popularity is the fact that urchins
| speedily began to play with improvised
| implements on many of the asphalted
| side streets. Now, street arabs, or 9TH
| er boys for that matter, never take up
a game which is not good. So persist
| ent were these youngsters that the
| police had several times to send out
| extra men to prevent them from mon
| opolizing sctions of the public thor
| oughfares.
Several regiments of the National
Guard in and around New York have
also taken up roller polo, as also have
the employees of some of the large dry
goods and other firms. They have
| written to Mr.. Conn asking for informa-
| ton and requesting permission to play
| preliminary games with the club if a
| new team is III 4fCW VI n
| Women were among the most enthus-
| iastic supporters OF roller polo in New
| York.
| All of this goes to show that when
| properly introduced and backed UP
with the necessary capital, roller polo
| is bound to be a, success. A national
winter sport to be sandwiched in be-
tween the football and baseball seasons
| is the great desideratum of the sport
loving public. Roller polo is eminently
fitted to fill the bill and, in fact, is the
one game that cam do so.
Mr. Conn thinks that if the men who
are at the head of the new baseball
| league, which expects to rival the ma
| tional organization, would turn their at
tention to roller polo and put the large
sums of money they claim to control
| into that game, they would get large re-
turns on the investment They GER
tainly would not have to buck up
| against an already strongly intrenched
adversary, but would have clear field
to begin with.
| The center of golf interests is now
| practically deserving the northern
States and for the next few months the
| south will see most of the play. OF
| course many Northern links are still
used by those VINO have not the time
| or opportunity to travel to more south