Evening star., 1939-05-18
Game Ranks Second
To Yacht Contests
In CostIiness
Formerly Blue -BIooded,
Sport Now Popular
With U. S. Masses
BY WHITNEY MARTIN,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

NEW YORK, May 18-They've
spent about a million dollars since
1914 chasing a 12-cent willow ball to
win cup appraised at a couple of
hundred dollars, but it isn't the
money, it's the principle of the thing,
by gum, so the British are here again
to meet the United States polo squad
in the international matches at
Meadow Brook June 4, IL and 18.
Polo, once SO blue -blooded that the
ponies neighed with a Harvard &C
cent, in recent years gradually has
been adopted by the masses until
today it is popular sport through
out the country, but big-time polo
still definitely is a rich mans game.
In fact, the international matches
rank second, although an admitted
ly poor second, to the Challenge Cup
yacht races as the most expensive
sport, although Robert F. Kelley, eX-
ecutive secretary of the United
States Polo Association, estimates
three-quarters of the expenditure is
returned through gate receipts.
Costs Invaders 100000.
Naturally, the heavier expense falls
on the invading squad Gerald
Balding, captain of the British team
this year, figures the total cost of
preparation for the coming match at
around 100000. The expense for
the United States squad will run
about half that.
The Britons have been preparing
for two years now. The first major
step, a little more than year ago,
was sending a man to South America
to buy ponies. Some of these ponies
were shipped to England and others
taken to Aiken, S. c., or California to
winter.
Last December and January the
British players began to arrive,
wintering in California and playing
q series of test matches.
Transportation and general up
keep of the men and horses are the
major items of expense. The squad,
in the last year and half. has had
under its control rs ponies, and
has SIS on hand now. Some of these
must be bought outright, others are
loaned by wealthy sportsmen, such
as the Maharajah Of Kashmir and
the Nawab of Bohopal, in India, and
titled Englishmen. In fact, in addi-
ton to the South American ponies,
mounts have been shipped from
India, Ireland and England.
Expenditure Nearly Million.
To care for these mounts a crew
of % stablemen and three foremen
Is quartered in tents hard by
Meadow Brook.
Add to these major expenses the
individual items, such as from two
to four saddles at $3.50 per, about
eight brides at $50 each, an UNI
brella stand full of mallets at So
or SO apiece, and always those 12-
cent balls, and the total begins to
stagger little.
Since losing the cup in 1914, this
will make the sixth time the Britons
have tried to regain it, including
four attempts in this country and
two at home. Figuring 100000 for
each invasion and 100000 for each
home stand, the expenditure fiirts
with cool million.
Although the blue -bloods still pipe
their bravos from the boxes at the
international matches, prices for
grandstand seats have been whitfield
to lure the common herd. In place
of top of $25 in 1880, the range this
year is from S225 to Sl1. The stands
accommodate $4,000, with a record of
more than 10000 in 1923. The exact
attendance remained mystery, as
the crowd got out of hand.
In other words, it's getting to be
something of an all-America sport,
with week end poloists scattered over
the country like golfers. but when it
comes to the big league they still
play it with dollars-and those 12-
cent willow balls.