How Polo Began.

Manawatu Herald, 9 May 1899, Page 3

How Polo Began.

In the Weekly Press last week ap pcarcd the first of a series of sporting anecdotes and recollections by 41 Thormanby." Under the above tittle he discourses on polo and we extract a portion of his tale. One day in the spring of the year 1869 three young subalterns of the 10th Hussars at Aldershofc found time banging very heavily on their beads, an by dint cf smokes and 11 Pegs," desultory conversation and Bill more desultory reading, were trying to kill " tbe enemy " One of them was running his eye bzily over the current number of the •• Field " when he stumbled upon an article which interested him. It was the account of a game played among the Mnnipuris, a hill tribe on the border? of Thibet - then unknown even by name to the bulk of Englishmen, though tbe name U familiar enough now by reason of the Massacre of 1891 But in 1869 the Manipnris were, as I have said, a practically unknown tribe to English. men out of India. Nevertheless, the description of this game of theirs moved the languid interest of these weary subalterns of the lO.h. •• By Jove 1 it must be a goodish game. 1 vote we try it," said the biggest of the three, who was none other than " Chicken >f Hartopp, whose fame as a devil~may-care rider is still green in both the Quorn and Meath countries.

So three chargers wero saddled, and, with crooked sticks and a billi ard ball, they made the first attempt to play Polo in England. It could scarcely be called a success, but all three taw that there were possibilities in the game if played on ponies, such bb tbe Manipuria used. The next step was the purchase of 17 ponies, of all sizes and shapes, in Ireland. And then the game caught on like fire among the officers of the 10th, who speedily inoculated their brethen of the 19ch Lancers with their enthusiasm for the new game. The first. regular match ever played in England was between two teams of these regiment, eight a side. Tbe match took plaoe on Houndslow Heath.

I think it was in 1874, that I made ray first acquaintance* with Polo. I saw that Polo was a fine manly gam* 1 , offering grand opportunities for the display of pluck and pkill in horsemanship. But compared with what the game has since become, the Po!o of five and twenty years ago was as " moonlight unto sunlight," or, as "water unto wine," or, to put it lesg poetically, as football in the days when Tom Brown was at Rugby to the football which draws "gates" of 60,000 aft the Crystal Palace nowadays. The dribbling of that day has given place to clean hard hitting and clever passing ; there is fierce and exciting galloping, where there was little more than cantering when I first saw the game. The ponies are bigger, the players have ten times the dash and go and skill, and the reduction in the numbers of players from eight to four gives far more scope for quickness of pace and scientific combination than the old game afforded. Polo, as it is now-played, 13 a splen-

did game to watch— far more stirring than football or hockey ; aud, for my part, next to a cricket match, I would rather eee a polo match than anything else of the kind. Perhaps if I was not a cricket enthusiast I should place Polo first of all games.

Among the curiosities of polo, I may mpntion the following, for which I am indebted to Mr J. Brown :

In a match in which the 17ih Lancers took part, during a scrimmage close to goal, no oue seemed able to fiud the ball. Some one then said a goal had been hit-, whilst others as stoutly maintained it had not : bat search for the ball beyond the goal line proved unavailing. Then the secret came out. The ball (of discord) was found attached to the tail of Lord Ava's pony ! This animal, on Arab, had been in the thickest of the fight; the hairs of his long tail had become entangled and fixed in a splinter of the ball, and so held it tightly — altogether a somewhat complex case for an umpire to decide upon ! I have heard of a ball being hit right up under a. pony's tail, and being held there a moment by the animal suddenly tucking his tail down. I have also heard of a player getting a fall aod sitting on the ball, but the case of a pony carrying the ball about with him unobserved is exceptionally quaint.

I have recently heard, however, of a pony in Argentina stepping on a ball, which stuck to his hoof, and was so carried over the goal line and between the posts. The incident gave rise to much discussion as to whether a goal could be claimed.