Polo Handicaps

Polo players must handicap ratings to be involved in competition.

It is expressed in goals. It represents the value of a player to his team.

Many factors are measured. It is an overall rating of a player's horsemanship, team play, knowledge of the game, strategy and horses, and at one time polo was the only sport in the world that considered sportsmanship when rating a player..

The scale begins at minus 2 goals, for a beginner, and reaches 10 goals.

Ratings are reviewed each year by local and national organisations each player’s home country.

Handicap ratings of players on a team are added together to give a team rating. For example, if 'The Celts' polo team has a total handicap of 6 goals and 'Saxons' polo team has a handicap of 4 goals, 'Saxons' would start on a a 2 goal advantage.

Selecting poor rated players is part of the strategy in picking a team

Winston Churchill once said that : A Polo handicap is your passport to the world.

Polo handicaps were created by H. L. Herbert, first president of The Polo Association (USA) in 1888 so that teams could be more evenly matched when assessing players of varied abilities.

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