Why do some people consider Argentina as the capital of polo>?

Question

I'm trying to write an article on polo and Argentina. I've done my usual research but have come up blank. All I have is that Argentina plays a huge role in the world of polo. What I don't know is how they got to be among the top and what made them reach their status now.

Answer 1

Polo's roots are in ancient warfare

Although many associate polo with the British Empire, the game's origins are far older. Four thousand years ago the tribes of central Asia domesticated wild horses, migrated to Persia and mastered the art of warfare on horseback. To practice their maneuvers, they began playing polo. The first references to the game in Persian literature date to 600 BC. But the best-known are contained in the 11th-century Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, who used polo as a metaphor for God's dominion over the apparent chaos of life:

In the cosmic game of polo you are the ball

The mallet's left and right becomes your call

He who causes your movements, your rise and fall

He is the one, the only one, who knows it all.

Thanks to the military superiority of its cavalry, Persia expanded its empire across Asia in the 5th century BC, and the horse -- and polo -- arrived in China, Japan and Tibet. ("Polo" is derived from pulu, the Tibetan word for ball.) Although it has all but vanished from those lands, it is still played by the hill tribes of northern Pakistan; the biggest match of the year in that country is played under a full moon on a rocky field astride the 11,000-foot Shandur Pass, following rules dictated 800 years ago by a descendant of Genghis Khan.

Polo came to the west via India, where the game was introduced in the 16th century. By the middle of the 19th century, polo flourished in several Indian provinces, especially Manipur, where it was observed by puzzled British government officials. One of them wrote an account of the sport and, in 1869, an officer with the Tenth Hussars, a cavalry regiment based at Aldershot, near London, read about it in a sporting journal. He was so impressed that he immediately ordered his men to start playing makeshift games; within a year, polo was a standard part of a British cavalry officer's training. But the games were confused melees, so in 1874 London's fashionable Hurlingham Club established a set of rules (see "Polo: The basic rules"), many of which are still in use today. Duly armed with their laws, the British took polo around the world.

British cattlemen introduced the game to Argentina, the current Mecca for polo aficionados. In Buenos Aires every December as many as 30,000 polo fans attend the Argentine Open, the world's most prestigious tournament. In the land of the gaucho, boys growing up on estancias (estates) play polo as soon as they learn to ride; consequently, the majority of top-ranked players are Argentines, including 27-year-old Adolfo Cambiaso, the sport's tabloid-handsome superstar and current leading goal scorer on the World Polo Tour.


And from

Polo is officially played in Argentina since 1870. The first local official game was played by Irishmen, estancia owners and English engineers. This event took place on August, 30, 1875 at the Villanueva estancia in Ranchos, in the province of Buenos Aires. From then on the game did not cease to grow across the country, and the first institution, Flores Polo Club, was founded in 1880. The sport continued to develop and subsequently new clubs appeared in different towns and cities throughout Argentina. Lomas Polo Club (1885), Belgrano Polo Club (1886) and the legendary Hurlingham Club (1886), were the first and most prominent clubs in the country.

And since then the Argentine Polo has been ranked among the best in the world. Many Argentine players of top handicap play around the globe. Also prominent are the Argentine Polo Horses, known as Petisos, a particular kind of breaded horse that’s specially suitable for this sport.

According to the statistics, Argentina has been ranked World Champion since 1949 and has been awarded most of the highest ranks since.

Bautista, Horacio, Alberto y Eduardo Heguy, Juan Carlos Harriot, Alfredo Harriot, Adolfo Cambiasso Enrique Alberdi, Juan A. Traill, Mariano Aguerre, Javier Novillo Astrada are some of the most prominent Argentine players of the moment.

Among the many championships and cups placed yearly throughout the globe, one of the most important competitions is the Argentine Polo championship Open that takes place in Buenos Aires. The season starts in August, first matches are usually played in the Northern Area of Buenos Aires to finish with a top match held at the Argentine Polo Field in Palermo during December.

One other prestigious trophy match is that played between Argentina and the US. This American Cup was first played in 1928 and Argentina has won it the most of the times.

As to multi-country competitions, we to highlight the late organization of the World Championship of Polo first held in 1989.

All in all, from England to Argentina; from the United States to India, Spain, and also Switzerland, followed by Australia and New Zealand and the lately popular renaissance of the sport in India, polo is a worldly appreciated and enjoyed millenary sport.


Best ranked Argentien clubs:

Coronel Suarez
Indios Chapaleufu
Ellerstina
El Paraiso
La Cañada
Hurlingham
El Trebol
La Espadaña
Venado Tuerto
North Santa Fe.



Winners of the Argentine Open

1970 C.Suarez
1971 Santa Ana
1972 C.Suarez
1973 Santa Ana
1974 C.Suarez
1975 C.Suarez
1976 C. Suarez
1977 C.Suarez
1978 C .Suarez
1979 C.Suarez
1980 C.Suarez
1981 C.Suarez
1982 Santa Ana
1983 C.Suarez II
1984 La Espadaña
1986 La Espadaña
1988 La Espadaña
1989 La Espadaña
1990 La Espadaña
1991 I.Chapaleufu
1992 I.Chapaleufu
1993 I.Chapaleufu
1994 Ellerstina
1995 Chapaleufu I
1996 Chapaleufu II
1997 Ellerstina
1998 Ellerstina
1999 Chapaleufu II
2000 Chapaleufu II
2001 Chapaleufu I
2002 La Dolfina
2003 La Aguada
2004 Chapaleufu II
2005 La Dolfina

Answer 2

"Argentina dominates the professional sport, as its polo team has been the uninterrupted world champion since 1949 and is today the source of most of the world's 10-goal (i.e., top-rated) players. In the world of polo, Argentina's Heguy family are to polo what the Barrymore family is to acting or the Khan family to squash. The Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo tournament—over 100 years old and still going strong—remains one of the most important polo competitions in the world."

Answer 3

Buenos Aires