OSU Polo Club:Polo History

Polo History


	Polo was invented in Persia (Iran), where it was played at least as early as the 1st century A.D. The game spread to Tibet, China and finally India, where it was discovered by British cavalry officers. Thereafter it rapidly gained popularity in England. James Gordon Bennett, who was the publisher of the New York Herald, introduced the game in the United States in 1876. The United States Polo Association (USPA), the governing body of the sport, was formed in 1890.


		OSU Polo takes on the University of Texas.


	In the 1970s the USPA had 140 member clubs and sponsored national and regional tournaments. Emphasis is placed on intercollegiate competition, which produces many fine players. The USPA also sponsors the Polo Training Foundation to develop young players.

			International competition has been a highlight of the sport since the first match between Britain and the United States in 1886. In 1909 the American team routed the British with a fast, long-hitting style of play that revolutionized the sport.



Polo has been on the agenda in four Olympic Games, the last in 1936. Polo is also now popular in Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, but the relative number of polo players remains small.

				History courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica. Bibliography: Lloyd, John, The Pimm’s Book of Polo (Trafalgar Square 1989); Mountbatten of Burma, An Introduction to Polo, rev. ed.(British Bk. Centre 1973).