The Question: Can polo be popularized? (Asked at Palm Beach and the Dominican Republic)
BOB SKENE, Los Angeles
One of the three
10-goal players in U.S.
"Only if polo fields are in centers of cities and easily reached. In Buenos Aires and Calcutta, where I have played, they draw tremendous crowds. The Venado Tuertos of Buenos Aires had won 10 consecutive championships. Last year, my team, El Trebol, licked them before 45,000 fans."
MRS. WALTER B. BROOKS, Palm Beach
Housewife
"Definitely. Polo is a great game to watch. It's a sport for all, no longer for the rich as it used to be. The ponies are beautifully trained to follow the ball. They are as interesting to watch as the players. In Palm Beach we are creating interest in polo by getting the public into it."
MAC MacMILLAN, Palm Beach
Patrolman
"No. Polo will never draw large crowds. It's too social. Many spectators just look around the stands and boxes to see who's there. They come to be seen, not to see the ponies. I shouldn't say this. The AAA in Florida has cited me as the most courteous law enforcement officer in Florida."
MAJ. GEN. R. TRUJILLO MARTINEZ Jr.
Chief of Staff
Dominican Air Force
"No. Ever since its invention, polo has never been a game for the masses. It's too expensive. A rider must own three ponies. He must pay for their feed and care. To become popular as a spectator sport, a game must be played and understood by a large part of the population."
JUAN ACOSTA, Havana
Captain
Cuban team
"Yes, but we must have leagues like those in baseball. Polo is fast, skillful and social. At places where it has been given a fair try, people liked it. In the late '40s, when polo was played in the Orange Bowl, it drew crowds of 10,000. Jimmy McHugh's club at Brandywine, Pa. is self-sustaining."
MAJOR FREDRIC C. COLLIN
President
Blind Brook and Palm Beach clubs
"Yes. All we have to do is give polo mallets instead of toy pistols to our kids. The Blind Brook Polo Club, near White Plains, N.Y., gave polo mallets and balls to the high school kids. Now they're playing field polo. Next will come polo on bicycles. Then on ponies."
CARLOS V. PELLERANO
President, Dominican Polo Commission
"Yes. We're in that process now. We bring top players here to compete against our team. There's no admission fee to the matches. That has built up great interest. We are particularly pleased with the interest of our kids. Polo teams made up of kids in the 10-14 age group are now playing."
MRS. ULMONT OGDEN CUMMING
New York City
Housewife
"No. You have to be a real horseman to play polo. The average boy would rather drive an automobile than ride a horse, even if there were enough horses to ride. My husband played polo as far back as World War I and is the proud owner of six cups won in competition. He agrees with me."
STEPHEN REYNOLDS, Loudonville, N.Y.
Captain
Yale University crew
"Although polo is the most skillful game I ever saw, it is too expensive to become a great spectator sport. There is a National Intercollegiate Indoor Polo League. Cornell defeated Yale for the championship, 19-5. Even so, polo will always be played and watched by the few."
LADDIE SANFORD, Palm Beach
Captain
Hurricanes
"Polo is getting a hold in Florida. At Delray they get crowds up to 5,000, for the game is very exciting and easy to understand. It's hockey on horseback. You don't have to be a millionaire to play, although feeble millionaires try to play, believing the shaking-up is good for their livers."
PORFIRIO RUBIROSA, Paris
Diplomat
Dominican Republic
"When every family owns a horse instead of an automobile, polo will become a great spectator sport, rivaling baseball, soccer and football. In the U.S., the Dominican Republic and other countries where baseball is played, it's much easier to buy a baseball bat than a polo pony."
ILLUSTRATION
ELEVEN PHOTOS
NEXT WEEK'S QUESTION:
In a match race between Swaps and Nashua, which horse would win?