The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-08-24
POLO

POLO
Polo IS the most ancient of games
played with stick and ball. 1t is
known to have been played more than
1000 years ago. The earliest records
of it are Persian. There is a rare old
in the British museum to-
day, containing an illustration repre-
senting an incident in a game in
Persia hundreds of years ago.
From Persia the game spread west
ward to ConstantinOple where it was
in the Twelfth Century. East
ward it went to Thibet, China and
Japan. From Thibet it was carried
southwark into india where it -four
ished in the Sixteenth century.
1t was known to Alexander the
Great.
The English cavalry officers, alive
to all that it holds in the way of inter
est, craftsmanship and development
of character, took it to England in
1869.
1t was introduced into America in
1876 by James Gordon Bennett, and
is now played in almost every state
in the Union, and elsewhere too,
wherever the American flag flies.
The fastest polo is still played by
civilian clubs but army players are
coming to the front-as witness the
winning of the Junior Championship
at Point Judith, August 18th, this
year. No sooner was Aguinaldo cap
tured, the chase for Villa terminated,
the Rhine reached, than polo sticks
and helmets made their appearance
and the game was on.
The word, polo" is derived from
the Thibetan word "pulu," meaning
a ball made from the knot of the will
low wood.
During its more than twenty cen
turtles of life twelve varieties of the
game have been recorded but all
center about the man on horseback,
with stick and ball.
From time to time details have
changed. An example: the Byzan-
tine court once used leather covered
ball and the Japanese yet use one of
paper; size of field has varied; sticks
have ranged from three to six feet in
length; sometimes in upper India the
entire man power of one village turns
out against the entire man power of
another; an Asian king of the Six
teenth century played at night occa-
sionally by using a burning ball.
At present the game is played with
four on a side; field is about 3O0x16O
yards; sticks average about ffty-one
inches in length, though a player may
suit himself; balls are made of will
low, bass wood or bamboo root; full
game consists of eight periods of 71a
minutes each. The ball is hit with the
side of the head, not the end
1t is a game for men but has been
and IS played by women sometimes.
A Persian poet describes how the
beautiful Shirin, wife of the Khuaran
Parvia (the Victorious), one of the
Sassanian kings, who fiourished about
$50 A. D., played chaugan (polo)
with her lovely handmaidens against
the king and courtiers.
Polo is played by the King of
Spain, the Prince of Wales, idle men
and busy men, cowpunchers, army Of
ficers, professional men and business
men, white, brown and yellow men,
1t unites man and his ancient friend
the horse. 1t satisfies the human de-
sire for speed, activity and struggle.
During the brief hour of its reign the
player has no thoughts beyond it. The
middle aged comes into his own again
for experience counts more than
youth. It demands courage but alb
hors reeklessness, quick thinking and
decision but not excitability, activity
but not mere brute strength.
P. S.-Polo is played each Sunday
afternoon at three o'clock, on the
Bungalow Fields, three miles west of
Fort Riley, and two miles north of
Junction City. Everyone welcome.
No charge. Hays people may see the
/ game at home or Fort Riley, as they
/ wish