|
INTRODUCTION
The
Meiteis are the majority community of Manipur and had been
playing Sagol Kangjei from time immemorial. The game is linked
to their mythology and it continues to play a significant role
in their cultural life.
 Throughout
Manipur's recorded history of some two thousand years, the game
always received the patronage of Meitei kings. In fact, polo
playing produced intrepid Meitei cavalry soldiers who, riding on
their strudy and sure-footed ponies, rode out of their
hill-girth valley and swooped down time and again on the plains
of Burma and Assam, to take their battles to the home of
surprised enemies.
When
Manipur lost her independence in 1891 and came under British
paramountcy, Sagol Kangjei continued to get support from the
government. How British officers were taken to playing Manipuri
polo and how it evolved to modern polo, is now a part of polo
folklore.
The Manipur State Polo Committee was set up in May 1948 under a
Resolution of the Manipur State Council which was responsible to
an elected Manipur legislature. The Council entrusted to the
polo Committee the responsibility of 'frame rules, run the
annual polo tournament and take such steps as to improve the
standard of (POLO) and popularize polo playing in Manipur which
is the home of this game'. The Committee held its first polo
tournament from April 8 to 11, 1949 at Polo ground in which six
polo teams took part.
However, when Manipur was merged into the Indian Union in
October 1949, the fortunes of Manipuri Polo took a severe
beating. Polo players were retrenched from government service;
polo ponies maintained by them were taken into the custody of
the government; and the historic pologround was denied to the
Polo Committee for exclusive polo playing. Of course, financial
assistance given to the Polo Committee was withdrawn.
The new Manipur administration under the direction control of a
centrally appointed Chief Commissioner perhaps felt allergic to
the Manipur State Polo Committee, because the Committee
continued to have as its Chairman Capt. P.B. Singh, the deposed
Chief Minister of Manipur and younger brother of the Maharaja.
The Maharaja himself was the Patron of the Polo Committee.
Without funds and without a secured playing field in Imphal, the
polo Committee could not discharge its functions properly. The
problem was accentuated by the scarcity of ponies in the wake of
the Second World War. The period of the fifties may be regarded
as the darkest chapter in the history of Manipur Polo.
An attempt was made for the revival of polo with the
establishment of the All Manipur Polo Club in 28th December,
1955. The Chief Commissioner was persuaded to be its President.
The Polo Club formally adopted in August 1986 to change its name
to the All Manipur Polo Association. The Governor of Manipur is
the Patron-in-Chief of the Polo Association.
It is largely due to the efforts of the All Manipur Polo
Association that there is a resurgence of public interest in
Sagol Kangjei, the traditional Polo of the Manipuri. As the
Manipur State Polo Committee has faded into history, it seems
the historic responsibility of looking after the Manipuri
traditional Polo has passed on to the All Manipur Polo
Association
TRADITIONAL
RULES OF SAGOL KANGJEI
HEIGHT OF HORSES
1.
The game can be played on ponies of any height. The average
height of Manipuri ponies is 11 to 13 hands( 4 inches = 1
hands).
SIZE
OF THE FIELD
The
dimensions of the rectangular playing field are 210 yards in
length and 100 yards in width. But it can be played also on
smaller fields according to local conditions.
PLAYERS
3
(a) The number of players in a team will be seven.
(b)
The players have definite names to denote their respective
positions. Starting from the goal line i.e. the line along the
width of the field, there is the Pun-ngakpa. A little up the
field towards the centre is the Pun-ngak-chung. Further up the
field is the place for the Pallak and at the centre plays the
Langjei. There is another Pallak ahead of the Langjei. Then
there are the two forwards called the Panjenba and the
Panjenchung who, when the game starts, usually play against the
opponent's Pun-ngakpa and the Pun-ngak-chung respectively.
(c)
In the early times, the players must belong to one of six panas
according to their status in the society. The panas of the
higher class were Ahallup, Naharup, Khabam and Laipham and those
of the lower class were the Hidakphanba and the Potsangba. Each
of the higher panas had their own traditional distinctive colour
: white for Ahallup, yellow for Naharup, green for Khabam and
red for Laipham.
(d)
The higher panas traditionally played among themselves and
Hidakphanba against the Potsangba only. When on special
occasions, the best players from the Ahallup and the Laipham
Panas combined and played against a similarly combined team of
the Naharup and the Khabam panas, the match was called
Chere-kare.
(e)
Nowadays, however, the game is no longer played according to
one's membership to a pana as this social institution has become
defunct. Only the name Pana Kangjei is retained to distinguish
the Manipuri traditional polo from the modern polo clubs or
teams affiliated to the state level polo organization may use
any distinctive colour or uniform of their choice. There is
still no limit to the number of players for a team but, from
practical considerations, it is usually limited to about a
dozen.
Explanation: The panas used here are different from, and should
not be confused with, the Revenue Circles/Tahsils bearing the
same names.
OFFICIAL
4.
(a) When the two teams have lined themselves up in the middle of
the field behind the centre line, each side on their respective
side of the field, the match is started by the Huntre-hunba. He
advances from the side of the field towards the centre and from
there he tosses the ball high up in the air shouting 'Huntre' to
indicate the start of play, and he retreats quickly. He repeats
the procedure to start the play again after a goal has been
scored and when the play starts after an interval. The ball
should be thrown up as vertically as possible.
(b) There is a Kangburel who remains outside the field and
watches the game. His decisions are final regarding the conduct
of the game.
(c)
There are two Goal Judges who raise a white flag every time a
goal has been scored on their respective goal line; two Line
Judges who toss the ball up in the air, like the Huntre-hunba
does, from the spot on the sideline where the ball has gone out
of the playing field. Nowadays, there is also a Timekeeper and a
Scorer.
SIZE
OF THE BALL
5.
The ball is made from seasoned bamboo root and painted white.
The size of the ball is about 100 mm in diameter and about 150
gm in weight.
HOW
A GOAL IS SCORED
6.
(a) There are no goal posts. A goal is scored by a team when the
ball crosses the terminal line on the other side i.e. the line
on the width of the field.
(b)
The scoring of a goal is formally announced by the sounding of a
bugle or the blow of a conch.
DURATION
OF THE GAME
7.
(a) In the earlier times, there was no definite time duration of
a match. It depended on the total number of goals to be scored
in the match and it was fixed by the two teams before the start
of play. There was a Pul-onba i.e. change of ends when the total
goals-scored reached half the number agreed upon. It was not
uncommon to fix the number of goals to be scored at 80 or even
100. Any number of players and ponies could be substituted
during play as and when necessary.
(b)
Nowadays, the game is usually played in two periods of 20
minutes each, with a breather of 5 minutes at half time. The
teams change ends at half time. There is still no limit to the
number of ponies that can be substituted during play.
HOW
A GAME IS WON
8.
The team that makes most goals will win the game.
STYLE
OF PLAY
9.
(a) Sagol Kangjei is not a game played at an easy canter. When
the Huntre-hunba or the Line Judge has tossed the ball up in the
air, the players are at liberty to strike the ball before it
reaches the earth.
(b) A mounted player is allowed to pick the ball up from the
ground by hand if he can. An expert player can make the ball
roll up the mallet by a flick of hand and catch the ball. But in
both cases, to score a goal, he must throw the ball up in the
air and hit it with his mallet before reaching the goal line.
(c) There are no restrictions to a player regarding right to way
so long as he is in control of the ball.
FOULS
10.
(a) In the earlier times, the traditional rules of the game were
delightfully indifferent to any kind of foul. The conducts of
the players were governed by thaksi-khasi or social etiquette
which compelled a player to play fair.
(b) In 1928, the Maharaja forbade sagol tupnaba i.e. riding
across an opponent or into a player with deliberated intent at
an unsafe distance, and hairou i.e. deliberately hitting or
hooking the mallet of an opponent above pony height or across
the opponent's pony at any height. These are still regarded as
fouls.
(c) It is up to the decision of the Kangburel whether the
offending player should be simply warned or stopped from playing
further in the game.
EQUIPMENT
FOR PLAYERS
11.
(a) All players wear a white dhoti without borders, but is does
not go below the knee. On his head he wears a big white turban
held by a khadangchet i.e. chin strap. He also wears a cotton
jacket with short sleeves. The jacket and the khadangchet are in
the distinctive colour of the particular team. Since on footwear
is usually worn, the player covers his ankles with khunningkhang
which is piece of leather or cloth held by straps. Above the
khunningkhang, to protect the calves, he wears a padded khongyom
which is also held by straps.
(b) On his left hand, the player holds a whip made of thick
leather pleated together, together with a pair of reins which
are attached to the bit. On his right hand, he holds the kanghu
i.e. the mallet which is about four and a half feet long. At the
upper end of the stick it is covered with cloth for about one
and a half feet. The player usually holds the stick leaving
about one foot to the upper end. The polo stick is fixed to the
polo head, which is about 4 to 10 inches long, at an angle of
about 45 degrees. The stick is made of seasoned cane.
EQUIPMENT
FOR PONIES
12.
(a) The Manipuri saddle looks outwardly too big for the small
ponies. Huge uncured buffalo or mithun skins called nakthing are
suspended from the saddle on both sides of the pony. Its ends,
fore and aft, are curled to protect the whole leg of the player.
(b) Big round balls of soft cotton are also usually suspended
from the heads and backs of the ponies to serve as ornaments and
to protect them from blows. |
