Polo then and no
Then
Polo began in Persia, perhaps as early as the 6th century BC, then spread to Arabia and Tibet, and was introduced into India by Muslim conquerors in the 13th century. British tea planters and then British regiments picked up the sport in the mid-nineteenth century.
By 1875, polo at Hurlingham in England attracted 10,000 spectators, and in the United States by the 1920’s, audiences of 40,000 attended matches at Meadowbrook on Long Island. In 1924, 120,000 people attended a game in New Delhi, India.
Historically, polo was sometimes played with hundreds of players on the field. In 1870, there were still 8 men to a side and almost no rules. Play was slow, resembling dribbling more than driving.
Now
In 1876, a wealthy American publisher saw the game in England, carried back some sticks and balls, and American polo was born. He and his friends formed the Westchester Polo Club, and in time found a base at the Polo Grounds in the Bronx, now home to the New York Yankees.
Polo in the United States rarely attracts more than a few thousand people in the audience and receives no major coverage in newspapers or on national television. 15,000 watch Argentine Open in December in Buenos Aires.
Fast, long-shot polo with 4 players on a team is an American invention, from the golden age of United States polo, from 1909 to 1950. In recent decades Argentina has dominated the world of polo.
