Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-04-14
.POLO NOVELTIES
IN PROSPECT At
Big EXPOSITION
Teams from Argentina and
Hla Will Bear Watching.
y Stroke with a Curve

Oh UkC Will d CuTVe
IT tn" tentative polo program for
the Panama parifc exposition goes
thr"uhr th"r" should be some Of tn"
fiu' Il exhibitions Of the GaliOping
gam" ever seen in any country. AC-
C0rdnC u present plans about q
teams will compete, including quar-
tets from all parts OF tn" United
! States. England, France, Spain, India
gnd Argentina.
~ With Indian and Argentine teams
competing there Will be plenty OF
novelty i'm store for American lovers
of the game. for it is only recently
that much has been heard in this
country of the prOwess Of the Trail
brothers Ct Argentina, and too little
has been known OF the style of play
INDUCED in by the maharajahs that
even in the internationals for the
Westminster cup. few of the specta-
tors realized how much had been Dor
rowod from India by England.
The long, Curving shot for goal
c@e Of the most innocent strokes in
appearance. and one of the deadliest
prise to many American polo men,
and once or twice nearly caught the
e American team mapping, according to
Honolulu poloists who saw the big
makch. 4,
his very pretty Indian shot Is we'll
CO lated to work against the Very
MfyTN of defense that has come to be
distinguishing feature of the American
style of play. The Meadow Brook
theory. and subsequently the theory
OF most polo men, has been that the
best .ffense is the best defense. For
tiis reason the wide shots into what
is known as dead" territory have re-
ceIved little or no attention from the
back, who did not race after them
because he felt sure that they would
cross the line far from the goal posts.
But the Indian stroke is never dead
have been able to impart a curve to
the ball. There is no great speed to
the stroke, but 1t swerves sharply
when past the ultimate defense and
swings in between the goal posts With
alarming frequency.
Amy Englishman or any, other play
er who has faced the native teams
in India can bear testimony to the
menace i'm the stroke, and should an
Indian team appear on the western
coast special preparation will have to
be made to meet IT. w.
Furthermore, the Indians are accus-
.omed to dry, fast fields and hot
weather, and while California is very
far from being like India in the polo
season. the visitors should find the
going TO their liking. In many ways
the Indian and the Argentinian sys-
tens of play are closer to the Ameri-
en- teams that face the invaders will
find far less tendency toward the long
formation that used to be standard
on the other side than toward the
flying forward" made familiar by
Meadow Brook.
For long time India has been
t5refsening a polo invasion of the
pnSAd States, but the only cup hith-
erto available has been a monopoly
between the United States and Great
Britain, and there has been no trophy
the conditions surrounding which have
been adapted for free-for-all interna-
tional competition.
Argentine teams have appeared on
be other side. and the Argentine
pony has been used from time to time
both in this country and in England,
but the type of play has been a
closed hook to most Americans.
s II all goes well, it is possible that in
time the Panama-Pacific cup will rank
with the Davis cup and with the
Americas cup. The donor of the Da-
Wis cup, indeed. had no idea that in
the long run the trophy would attract
the teams Of so many nations. Most
international competition is of fairly
slow growth, but England and the
United States no longer have cor
ner on athletics, and in the case of
polo the Persians, the Indians and
even the Chinese were playing the
game before birmingham was heard
of. So it will not be a case of fight
ing against English and American
methods. India at least has nothing
to learn about the sometimes dusty
3me, and Argentina very little