POLO 



* It was certainly the general opinion that the inauguration 

 of the eastern game as a public spectacle had been a great 

 success ; and there can be little doubt that we shall find " polo " 

 ranking henceforth among established sports, at least among 

 the officers of our cavalry, to whom it is especially suited. We 

 did not observe that the animals ridden in the game of Tuesday 

 were in any way distressed, although they were not changed 

 during the play ; but then, as before remarked, they were 

 rested for a few minutes as opportunity offered.' 



The team of six was soon reduced to one of five, and in 

 1883 the Hurlingham Rules restricted the number to four. 

 The Sussex Club, whose team included the three brothers 

 Peat, well-nigh invincible in the 'eighties, were the first to 

 recognise the supreme importance of combined play so strenu- 

 ously inculcated by the late Mr. Moray Brown. 



In Mr. Moray Brown polo lost a chronicler whose place has 

 never been filled. His account of the final of the County Cup 

 Tournament of 1894 at Hurlingham, in which Edinburgh beat 

 Rugby by three goals to two, was one of the best of many 

 descriptions he contributed to Land and Water : — 



' Good as the first " twenty " had been, the succeeding one 

 was no whit behind it in point of excellence, and began by 

 Edinburgh attacking and hitting behind. Twice then Rugby 

 made the mistake of trjdng to take the ball round instead of 

 back-handing it, and the mistake was the more unpardonable 

 from the fact of their missing it. But fortune favoured them, 

 and their opponents also missed, thereby losing two chances of 

 scoring. But what will you ? We are all prone to make 

 mistakes, and after all it will be more charitable, after pointing 

 out the tactical error on the part of Rugby, to put down the 

 missing to rough and bumpy ground. But Edinburgh meant 

 business ; they had got their adversaries fairly penned, and 

 had no intention of allowing them to break through the cordon 

 of investment. At length out of the scuffle shot Mr. " Jack " 

 Drybrough on Robin. With neat near-side strokes he 

 manoeuvred the ball past more than one aggressive foe, and, 



105 



