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The man voted by his countrymen as 'the greatest ever Briton'
(BBC Poll, 2002), Winston Churchill, once said that "A
polo handicap is your passport to the world".
His words could not ring with more shattering truth than
in Northern Pakistan where Polo is truly the national sport,
favoured even over cricket and one in which people of all
classes participate. The government support the high cost
of polo tournaments, making it one of the few activities in
Pakistani which is truly open to all.
History of polo
Polo is one of the oldest sports in the world. It combines
the skills of the rider with the power of the horse as well
as team tactics. It is played in 48 countries in 5 continents.
The ancient grounds of polo stretched from Constantinople
(Istanbul) to Japan during the Middle Ages. It was begun several
thousand years ago as military training for the elite Sultan's
army - possibly from Persia, although Pakistanis and Indians
believe it originates from the Northern Areas. The very name
'polo' is the Balti term for ball. The original teams would
have been armies with dozens on each side, ready to do battle.
During the world's first tournament in 600BC the Turks thrashed
the Persians and the battle has continued on to this day.
The first written rules of modern Polo were created by an
Irishman, Captain John Watson in 1874, where the 'offside'
rule was set in stone but little understood! It was around
this time that Polo was brought to the West after military
colonialists discovered the game in India and it soon became
a firm favourite with the aristocracy. The British Raj formed
the oldest active club in the world in Calcutta. Although
dropped from the official games since World War I, polo is
now back on the menu as an Olympic sport. The leaders in the
field are currently Argentina, the USA and England.
Rules of polo
Each team has six player, six ponies, six mallets and one
ball between the two teams. The opposing team charge their
rivals and at the half way line try and score into the opposition's
goal. There is much hanging off the side of the pony, smacking
together of mallets and general misdemeanor. Imagine croquet
on horseback without the tea and scones. The game is oven
when one team reaches nine goals, although modern games are
more often two sides of 30 minutes.
If you're now imagining England's Prince Charles poncing
about on a horse, think again, Pakistani Polo is the real
deal, aggressive, fiery and fast paced - no 'niceties'.
Let The battle commence!
A polo legend from ancient North Pakistan was that a king
begged the gods to return his missing wife. The gods said
they would do this, but only on the condition that he sacrifice
his two sons. They gave him a powerful horse, so fast it split
valleys in two on its flight to Baltistan. He smacked the
heads of his sacrificed sons in to the opening in the mountain
in order to reclaim his queen. Near Kaphulu, you can
see an opening in a mountain and a real polo field where gory
scenes are periodically carried out in the name of the sport.
Animal heads have been used in the past as well as the severed
heads of the enemies of Genghis Khan! The animals aren't the
only casualty in the wild Indian style of play - even in officious
matches players will try and thwack the shoulders and arms
of their opponents. Half time is less slices of oranges and
more time for splints and bandages. A handicap in Indian Polo
can have quite an unpleasant connotation.
Where to see a polo match
The best play to see a game of polo is the Northern Areas
of Pakistan or Chitral. Key tournaments of the season
are the Uprising Day tournament in early November in
Gilgit, or the Pakistan Independence Day tournament
in Skardu, early August.
Polo between heaven and hell
The greatest and most infamous polo tournaments, however,
takes places annually on the Shandur Pass, the highest
polo ground in the world where a Chitral vs Gilgit tournament
is held every June. The rules of the game here date back 800
years to those created by a descendent of Genghis Khan himself.
The competition was created in the 1920s to promote integration
between the various tribes and the British rulers. The Shandur
Pass was picked as the location because, at 11,000ft above
sea level, it was seen as a ridge between heaven and hell.
The loose rules practiced are, however, more likely to lead
to total anarchy than integration and every year players faced
injury and even death during the tournament.
Its no casual sightseeing affair - to even get to this ground
you face a 13 hour drive from Gilgit along a treachourously
dangerous and narrow mountain pass where you risk possible
death if you meet another jeep on the other side of the Pass!
Even the ponies face a 5 day trek before the match. All in
all, the fatalities are high before the match has even began,
although around 10,000 extremists are prepared to make the
trek out to Shandur every year. Violence, tension and corruption
are all in play - and that's just off the pitch. |
