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Polo is a stick-and-ball game played on horseback by teams of four players although Pakistani teams tend to have at least six. The playing area, the largest for any ball game, is 300 yards by 160 yards, although often the boundaries are not fixed and play extends over an even wider area. The object of the game is to strike the ball with a hand-held mallet into the opposing eight-yard-wide and 10-foot-high goal. Each game is divided into seven-minute periods known as chukas ("CHUCK-AHS"), and the number of chukas in a game varies from one competition to another.
Polo was first played in Central Asia around 500 When the game traveled east to the land south of the Himalayas, it took a firm hold and when the British colonized the Indian subcontinent, they discovered the game and took to it with enthusiasm. It became a popular game with the British army, and most of the best polo teams today come from the armed forces of the United Kingdom. This is only partly due to an inherited tradition, for while only wealthy individuals can afford the luxury of owning their own horses, the army and the police play as team members on horses that are not personally owned.
Polo is most popular in the northern areas of Pakistan, and large crowds will turn up for the breathtaking displays of horsemanship that are a guaranteed feature of every game. The boundary is usually a lowIying wall and the audience crowds dangerously close to this wall to follow the progress of the game as the ball is huriled around the field and bounced off the wall at high speed.