OSU Polo Club:The Game

The Game


“Captivating, heart-stopping, thrilling, enthralling - the list of superlatives used to describe the game of kings is almost endless.” -Richard Foxx, El Dorado Polo Club

Polo is a game played on horseback in which two opposing teams of riders, equipped with long-handled mallets, try to score points by hitting a wooden ball through the opponent’s goal. The basic pattern of play resembles hockey and soccer.
		OSU vs. Texas


At the collegiate level, polo is played on a field measuring 300 feet by 100 feet. A team is composed of four players, whose positions are designated by numbers. A match consists of four periods know as “chukkers.” Extra periods are played in case of a tie. Play is continuous except for brief intervals after each period. There are no time-outs except for injuries, penalties, or unsafe situations. Since polo is a high-risk sport for both players and horses, a strict set of rules is enforced by two mounted umpires and one unmounted referee. Penalties vary according to the severity of the foul.

			If a foul is called, the fouled team is awarded a penalty shot - a free hit from a predetermined distance into a guarded or unguarded goal. Most high-goalers can convert penalty shots into goals with a regularity that exceeds free-throw percentages in basketball, which makes drawing the opposition into a foul a good tactic.
A brief break in the action after a foul.


The game is started with a throw-in from an umpire. From there on, the action usually explodes to the accompaniment of shoving players and horses, clacking mallets, shouted orders and hard-hit shots. One or two quick shifts in momentum follow in the first millisecond. The rules are based on something known as the "line of the ball." Each time the ball is moved, a line of travel is created that extends forward and backward from the ball. Players use that line to plan their approach to the ball, keeping it on their right or off-side, where they have the right-of-way. Crossing the line close to an oncoming player who has the right-of-way may be dramatic, but it's often dangerous and thus is a foul. Cutting that line as close as possible is common in high-goal polo.

"Reaching speeds up to 30 m.p.h., polo is the fastest game in the world." -Jennifer Forsberg Meyer

A swing at the ball can be blocked by a hook from another player's mallet or interfered with indirectly by a ride-off. Players look down the field after a battle for the ball.

A ball that goes over the backline as the result of a missed goal is knocked back in by the defending team without stopping the clock. But a ball hit over the back line by the defending team gives the attackers a safety. The clock is stopped, and the ball is placed 60 yards out from the goal with a free hit awarded to the attackers.

	“As the chucker unfolds, most of what goes on is action and reaction. There are few fixed plays, as in football. The team that is better able to anticipate and place its members in strategic positions will be the one to dominate.” -Richard Foxx