Editing Polo (section)

==== India and Britain ====

In use in Manipur were the game's Tibetic names, {{Transliteration|bft|polo}} or {{Transliteration|bo|pulu}}, referring to the wooden ball, and it was these terms, anglicised, which were adopted for the sport's name in its slow spread to the west. A European polo club was established in the town of [[Silchar]] in [[Colonial Assam|Assam]], India, in 1859, the English tea planters having learnt it from Manipuri incomers.<ref name="manipurpolo">{{Cite web |title=The Mists of Time: Origins of Polo |url=http://www.indiapolo.com/Polopedia/History/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328122313/http://www.indiapolo.com/Polopedia/History/history.html |archive-date=28 March 2009 |access-date=28 September 2008 |website=Indianpolo.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephen |first=J. K. |date=25 March 2007 |title=Manipur Polo: History of Polo in Imphal |url=http://www.indianpolo.com/manipurpolo/history.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211023839/http://www.indianpolo.com/manipurpolo/history.asp |archive-date=11 February 2019 |access-date=25 January 2012 |website=Indianpolo.com}}</ref>

[[File:Manipur Polo Players 1875.jpg|thumb|Manipuri polo players in 1875]]

{{Transliteration|mni|Sagol kangjei}} was one of three forms of hockey in Manipur, the other ones being [[field hockey]] (called {{Transliteration|mni|[[khong kangjei]]}}) and wrestling-hockey (called {{Transliteration|mni|[[mukna kangjei]]}}).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=L.Joychandra |url=https://search.lib.umich.edu/catalog/record/990141923980106381 |title="Origin of Polo game" |publisher=Guinness Publishing |year=1991 |isbn=9780851123745 |edition=1st |location=Enfield, Middlesex, UK |language=English |access-date=22 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722175615/https://search.lib.umich.edu/catalog/record/990141923980106381 |archive-date=22 July 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Local rituals such as those connected to the {{Transliteration|mni|[[Ibudhou Marjing]]}}, the winged-pony god of polo and the creation-ritual episodes of the {{Transliteration|mni|[[Lai Haraoba]]}} festival enacting the life of his son, {{Transliteration|mni|[[Meitei deities|Khoriphaba]]}}, the polo-playing god of sports. These may indicate an origin earlier than the historical records of Manipur. Later, according to {{Transliteration|mni|[[Cheitharol Kumbaba]]}}, a royal chronicle of King Kangba, who ruled Manipur much earlier than Nongda Lairen Pakhangba ({{CE|33}}) introduced {{Transliteration|mni|sagol kangjei}} ({{Transliteration|mni|'kangjei}} on horseback'). Further regular playing of this game commenced in 1605, during the reign of King [[Khagemba]] under newly framed rules of the game.

[[File:Polo-field old kangla imphal.JPG|thumb|Old polo field in [[Imphal]], Manipur]]
In Manipur, polo is traditionally played with seven players to a side. The players are mounted on the indigenous [[Manipuri Pony]], which stands less than {{hands|13}}. There are no goal posts, and a player scores simply by hitting the ball out of either end of the field. Players strike the ball with the long side of the mallet head, not the end.<ref>J. del Carril editions:
* {{Cite book |last=Carril |first=Justo del |title=Essential Tips: Polo |date=March 2009 |isbn=978-987-02-7039-3 |page=9 |chapter=Introduction |access-date=3 December 2022 |chapter-url=https://issuu.com/hcpgroup/docs/polo_tips |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203045317/https://issuu.com/hcpgroup/docs/polo_tips |archive-date=3 December 2022 |url-status=live |via=Issu}}
* {{cite book |last1=Carril |first1=Justo del |title=Essentials Tips: Polo |date=1 November 2013 |publisher=Editorial Dunken |location=Ayacucho, Buenos Aires, Argentina |isbn=978-987-02-7039-3 |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNRGAgAAQBAJ |access-date=3 December 2022 |language=en |chapter=Introduction: The equipment |archive-date=15 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715003716/https://books.google.com/books?id=GNRGAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Players are not permitted to carry the ball, although blocking the ball with any part of the body except the open hand is permitted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rule F12 International Rules for Polo |url=http://www.fippolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/THE-INTERNATIONAL-RULES-FOR-POLO-August-2010.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818041007/http://www.fippolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/THE-INTERNATIONAL-RULES-FOR-POLO-August-2010.pdf |archive-date=18 August 2018 |access-date=8 December 2018 |publisher=Federation of International Polo}}</ref> The sticks are made of [[Cane (grass)|cane]], and the balls are made from the roots of [[bamboo]].  Players protected their legs by attaching leather shields to their [[saddle]]s and [[Girth (tack)|girths]].<ref name="crego 2003"/>{{rp|26}}

[[File:Traditional Polo in Manipur India.jpg|thumb|Polo players of Manipur in {{Transliteration|mni|Mapal Kangjeibung}}, the world's oldest polo playground]]

In Manipur, the game was played even by commoners who owned a pony.<ref name="crego 2003"/>{{rp|25}} The kings of Manipur had a royal polo ground within the ramparts of their [[Kangla Fort]]. Here they played on the {{Transliteration|mni|manung kangjei bung}} ({{lit|inner polo ground}}). Public games were held, as they still are today, at the {{Transliteration|mni|mapan kangjei bung}} ({{lit|outer polo ground|lk=no}}), a polo ground just outside the Kangla. Weekly games called {{Transliteration|mni|hapta kangjei}} ({{lit|weekly polo|lk=no}}) were also played in a polo ground outside the current palace.

The oldest polo ground in the world is the [[Imphal Polo Ground]] in [[Manipur]]. The history of this polo ground is contained in the royal chronicle {{Transliteration|mni|Cheitharol Kumbaba}} starting from {{CE|33}}. Lieutenant (later Major General) Joseph Ford Sherer, the father of modern polo, visited the state and played on this polo ground in the 1850s. [[Lord Curzon]], the [[Viceroy of India]] visited the state in 1901 and measured the polo ground as "225 yards long and 110 yards wide" ({{convert|225|x|110|yard|disp=output only}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of polo |url=http://royalpoloclubrasnov.ro/history-of-polo/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203231600/http://royalpoloclubrasnov.ro/history-of-polo/ |archive-date=3 December 2017 |access-date=2 December 2017 |website=Royal Polo Club Rasnov}}</ref>

The [[Cachar Club]], established in 1859,<ref name="brit 1998"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Pony Returns - Indian Express |url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/the-pony-returns/1040905/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728085542/http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/the-pony-returns/1040905/ |archive-date=28 July 2020 |access-date=6 January 2020}}</ref> is located on Club Road in the heart of [[Silchar]] city in Assam. In 1862, the oldest polo club still in existence, [[Calcutta Polo Club]], was established by two British soldiers, Sherer and Captain Robert Stewart.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Polo Club |url=http://www.calcuttapolo.com/about.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903221104/http://www.calcuttapolo.com/about.html |archive-date=3 September 2020 |access-date=2 December 2017 |website=calcuttapolo.com}}</ref> Later they spread the game to their peers in England. Polo was first played in England by the [[10th Hussars]] in 1869.<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Polo |volume=22 |page=11 |first=Thomas Francis |last=Dale |author-link=Thomas Francis Dale}}</ref> The British are credited with spreading polo worldwide in the late 19th century and the early 20th century at the height of its [[British Empire|empire]]. Military officers imported the game to Britain in the 1860s. The establishment of polo clubs throughout England and western Europe followed after the formal codification of rules.<ref name="crego 2003"/>{{rp|26}} The 10th [[Hussars]] at [[Aldershot]], Hants, introduced polo to England in 1834. The game's governing body in the United Kingdom is the [[Hurlingham Polo Association]], which drew up the first set of formal British rules in 1874, many of which are still in existence.

This version of polo played in the 19th century was different from the faster form that was played in Manipur. The game was slow and methodical, with little passing between players and few set plays that required specific movements by participants without the ball. Neither players nor horses were trained to play a fast, non-stop game. This form of polo lacked the aggressive methods and required fewer [[equestrianism|equestrian]] skills. From the 1800s to the 1910s, a host of teams representing [[princely state|Indian principalities]] dominated the international polo scene.<ref name="crego 2003"/>{{rp|26}} The game had reached [[Samoa]] by the 1890's.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 April 1893 |title=Polo Tournament - The Final |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/samoa-times-and-south-sea-advertiser-pol/150170729/ |work=[[Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser]] |location=[[Apia, Samoa]] |page=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

The World Champions Polo League was launched in [[Jaipur]] in 2016. It is a new version of polo, similar to the [[Twenty20]] format of cricket. The pitch was made smaller and accommodated a large audience. The first event of the World Champions Polo League took place in [[Bhavnagar]], Gujarat, with six teams and room for 10,000 spectators. The rules were changed<ref>{{Cite news |last=Das |first=Deepika |date=19 December 2016 |title=Polo league to kick off in March |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/sports/in-other-news/191216/polo-league-to-kick-off-in-march.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811110449/https://www.deccanchronicle.com/sports/in-other-news/191216/polo-league-to-kick-off-in-march.html |archive-date=11 August 2022 |access-date=11 August 2022 |work=Deccan Chronicle |language=en}}</ref> and the duration of matches made shorter.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=India's First Official Polo League Announced in Jaipur |date=17 December 2016 |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/indias-first-official-polo-league-announced-in-jaipur-607190876.html |language=en |access-date=11 August 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811110632/https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/indias-first-official-polo-league-announced-in-jaipur-607190876.html |archive-date=11 August 2022 |author1=Champions Polo League |agency=PRNewswire}}</ref>