A Primer on Polo

A real estate development professional in Portland, Oregon, Barclay Grayson holds a master of business administration from Columbia Business School. In addition to serving as senior vice president of BPM Real Estate Group, Barclay Grayson enjoys attending community events such as Polo Noir. Held annually through 2019, Polo Noir brought together spectators for a fun, festive day of live music, food, drinks, and two polo matches.

Polo is a competition between two teams of four players on horseback, who use long mallets to strike a ball through goal posts to score. A match comprises six seven-minute sections, called chukkers. At the end of each chukker, players continue for 30 seconds or until a stoppage in play, whichever comes first. Between chukkers, players take a four-minute interval, and a 10-minute halftime occurs after the first three chukkers. At halftime, spectators typically participate in the traditional stomping down of divots on the field left by the horses’ hooves.

At the beginning of each chukker and after each goal, the umpire tosses the ball between both lined-up teams. While players may hit the ball from either side of the horse, they must hold the mallet in their right hand for safety reasons. A player may block or hook an opponent’s mallet, but deliberate contact between players is prohibited. Play can be stopped for injury, penalty, or broken equipment.