238 POLO IN INDIA. [Chap. IX. 



is hit, or casually taking their places, when the ball 

 goes out at the side ; because they know that the 

 Umpire will not throw the ball in until every player 

 is in his place. This plan would have the further 

 advantage of removing the uncertainty as to how long 

 a match would last, which is no unimportant matter in 

 a country of brief twilight. Besides, one official less 

 would be required, namely, the man with the stop- 

 watch. At present, to manage a match properly on 

 any Indian ground, four goal referees, owing to the 

 existence of subsidiary goals, are needed : two 

 umpires, a scorer, and a timekeeper, amounting in 

 all to seven officials, which is a number of kind, un- 

 selfish men that is not always easy to find. If the 

 stop-watch could be dispensed with, the duties of 

 scoring and keeping time could be performed without 

 the slightest trouble by one man. At present, it takes 

 all the time and attention of one man to keep the 

 time accurately. 



SUBSIDIARY GOALS. 



I have no hesitation in saying that subsidiary goals 

 are a mistake, and should be abolished. The primary 

 object in all polo is to hit goals, and the team which 

 cannot do this ought to lose the match. Subsidiary 

 goals are a premium on bad goal shooting. We often 

 see a stronger side make a score of, say, two goals and 

 seven subsidiary ones, against two goals by the weaker 

 side, who evidently took advantage of the few opportu- 

 nities they received, while their opponents made a mess 

 of the numerous chances which their superiority gave 

 them. In such cases, it would only be fair that the 

 weaker side should have a chance of winning the match 



