The Polo Fields is a large multi-purpose stadium and sporting field in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
's
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...
. Despite its name,
polo
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...
is rarely played on the Polo Fields. The facility has a multitude of uses. There are six regulation
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
pitches on the grass field, surrounded by a .67-mile
cycle track
A cycle track, separated bike lane or protected bike lane (sometimes historically referred to as a sidepath) is an exclusive bikeway that has elements of a separated path and on-road bike lane. A cycle track is located within or next to the ro ...
. Wooden bleachers flank the north and south sides of the cycle track surrounding the field. Surrounding the grass field, cycle track, and bleachers is a dirt track used for
running
Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...
and
horse riding
Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...
.
History
The Polo Fields has been the site of diverse events over the years. The Polo Fields was originally called the Golden Gate Park Stadium and opened in 1906 as a
velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...
.
Cyclists
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of Bicycle, cycles for transport, recreation, Physical exercise, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", ...
from all over the West Coast have used the track for over a century. In 1967, the
Human Be-In
The Human Be-In was an event held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields on January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol of American counterculture a ...
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
music concert was held on the Polo Fields.
The Polo Fields was also the home field for San Francisco-based rugby clubs in the Northern California Rugby Football Union from the 1960s through the early 1990s. It was the site of the Golden Gate Rugby Tournament, held in April, during this time.
Tenants
Cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
,
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
and
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...
events are frequently held on the Polo Fields all year long. The annual
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is a music festival held annually in San Francisco, California, at Golden Gate Park. The festival is produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents, and Starr Hill Presents. It is the l ...
is held on the Polo Fields each August. From 1986 to 2009, the annual
Bay to Breakers footrace held its post-race event, Footstock, at the Polo Fields each May.
Cycling Track
The historic cycling track at the Polo Fields was a 1 kilometer long paved track used by cyclists for training and events. The cycling track was a centerpoint of bicycle racing from the 1930s through the 1950s.
[ ]
The local grou
Friends of the Polo Fieldwas recently formed to restore the cycling track to the original condition when it was created.
See also
*
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (HSB), originally Strictly Bluegrass, is an annual free and non-commercial music festival held the first weekend of October in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. Conceived and subsidized by San Francisco ve ...
*
San Francisco Soccer Football League
The San Francisco Soccer Football League or SFSFL, established in 1902, is "the oldest American soccer league in continuous existence."
The SFSFL is a men's semi-professional and amateur soccer league consisting of teams from San Francisco, Cali ...
References
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External links
San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department
Sports venues in San Francisco
Athletics (track and field) venues in San Francisco
Cross country running courses in California
Soccer venues in San Francisco
Sports complexes in the United States
Golden Gate Park