Full Description
Tracing the evolution of polo from its origins in Central Asia to its current manifestation as a professional sport that attracts wealthy sponsors and patrons, this sociological study examines how polo has changed according to the economic and cultural differences of the nations and continents where it is played. One hundred historic and modern photographs are included.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Nigel à Brassard
Preface
PART I : THE TRIBESMEN
1. Folk Games: From the Silk Road to the Manipuri Valleys
2. An Ancient Pastime Discovered by Western Eyes
PART II : THE ARISTOCRATS
3. The European Journey
4. The British Carry the Flag
5. Polo in India: Conflicts and Harmonies
6. The Beginning of the Internationals
7. Polo Myths: Billiard Ball, Walking Sticks, and All That
8. The British Clubs
9. Fashionable Chic: Polo on the Continent
10. American Polo Comes of Age
11. The Anglo-Argentines: Squires or Gauchos?
12. Olympic Interlude
Between pages 126 and 127 are eight color plates containing 17 photographs
PART III : THE AMATEURS
13. The Mighty Americans
14. Of Lords and Ladies
15. The Game in the Former Dominions
16. The Cup of the Americas
17. The Hallowed Grounds: Hurlingham, Meadow Brook and Palermo
18. Return from War: The Internationals
19. The Rise of Argentina
20. England's Recovery: Gentlemen Players and Hired Assassins
21. Polo in America in the Late Twentieth Century
22. Bits and Pieces, Strokes and Mallets
PART IV : THE PROFESSIONALS
23. Patrons and the Dawn of Professionalism
24. Women's Polo
25. The Game's Thinkers
26. The Evolution of the Rules
27. On Umpiring
28. The Polo Pony: From Tats to Thoroughbreds
29. The State of the Game in the Twenty-First Century
Appendix A: The Code of Rules for the Silchar Polo Club, 1863
Appendix B: The Field, 20 March 1869, Letter to the Editor
Appendix C: The Rules of the Game, as Drafted by Lt. Hartopp
Mess Paper, 1869
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
