Hurling
Encyclopedia
Hurling is an outdoor team game
of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association
, and played with sticks called hurleys
and a ball called a sliotar
. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric
origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and is thought to be the world's fastest field team game
in terms of game play. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games
, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football
, such as the field and goals, number of players, and much terminology. There is a similar game for women called camogie
(camógaíocht). It shares a common Gaelic root with the sport of shinty
(camanachd) which is played predominantly in Scotland
.
The object of the game is for players to use a wooden stick called a hurley
(in Irish a camán, pronounced ˈ) to hit a small ball called a sliotar
(icon) between the opponents' goalposts either over the crossbar for one point, or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for one goal, which is equivalent to three points. The sliotar can be caught in the hand and carried for not more than four steps, struck in the air, or struck on the ground with the hurley. It can be kicked or slapped with an open hand (the hand pass) for short-range passing. A player who wants to carry the ball for more than four steps has to bounce or balance the sliotar on the end of the stick and the ball can only be handled twice while in his possession.
Side-to-side shouldering is allowed although body-checking or shoulder-charging is illegal. No protective padding is worn by players. A plastic protective helmet with faceguard is mandatory for all age groups, including senior level, as of 2010. The game has been described as "a bastion of humility", with player names absent from jerseys and a player's number decided by his position on the field.
Hurling is played throughout the world, and is popular among members of the Irish diaspora
in the United Kingdom
, North America
, Europe
, Australia
, New Zealand
, South Africa
and Argentina
. In Ireland, it is a fixture of life. It has featured regularly in both film and literature. In 2007, Forbes
magazine described the media attention and population multiplication of Thurles
town ahead of one of the game's annual provincial hurling finals as being "the rough equivalent of 30 million Americans watching a regional lacrosse
game." American soldiers have also expressed their love of the game's warrior ethos.
Hurling is played on a pitch 137 – 145 m long and 80 – 90 m wide. The goals at each end of the field are formed by two posts, which are usually 6 m high, set 6.4 m apart, and connected 2.44 m above the ground by a crossbar. A net extending in back of the goal is attached to the crossbar and lower goal posts. The same pitch is used for Gaelic football
; the GAA, which organises both sports, decided this to facilitate dual usage. Lines are marked at 13 m, 20 m, 65 m and 45 m in gaelic football from each end-line. Shorter pitches and smaller goals are used by under-13s and younger.
Teams consist of fifteen players and they line out as below:
The panel is made up of 24–30 players and 5 substitutions are allowed per game. No exceptions are ever made.
If a knockout game finishes in a draw, a replay is played. If a replay finishes in a draw, 20 minutes extra time is played (10 minutes per half). If the game is still tied, another replay is played.
In club competitions, replays are increasingly not used due to the fixture backlogs caused. Instead, extra time is played after a draw, and if the game is still level after that it will go to a replay.
(ball) between the opposition's goal posts. The posts, which are at each end of the field, are "H" posts as in rugby football
but with a net under the crossbar as in soccer. The posts are 6.4 m apart and the crossbar is 2.44 m above the ground.
If the ball goes over the crossbar, a point is scored and a white flag is raised by an umpire. If the ball goes below the crossbar, a goal, worth three points, is scored, and a green flag is raised by an umpire. The goal is guarded by a goalkeeper. Scores are recorded in the format {goal total} – {point total}. For example, the 1997 All-Ireland
final finished: Clare
0–20 Tipperary
2–13. Thus Clare won by "twenty points to two thirteen" (20 to 19). 2–0 would be referred to as "two goals", never "two zero". 0–0 is said "no score".
This is also known as a Clash.
The referee is responsible for starting and stopping play, recording the score, awarding frees and issuing penalty card
s to players after offences.
Linesmen are responsible for indicating the direction of line balls to the referee and also for conferring with the referee.
The fourth official is responsible for overseeing substitutions, and also indicating the amount of stoppage time (signalled to him by the referee) and the players substituted using an electronic board.
The umpires are responsible for judging the scoring. They indicate to the referee whether a shot was: wide (spread both arms), a 65 m puck (raise one arm), a point (wave white flag), or a goal (wave green flag).
Contrary to popular belief within the association, all officials are not obliged to indicate "any misdemeanours" to the referee, but are in fact only permitted to inform the referee of violent conduct they have witnessed which has occurred without the referees knowledge. A linesman/umpire is not permitted to inform the referee of technical fouls such as a "Third time in the hand", where a player catches the ball for a third time in succession after soloing or an illegal pick up of the ball. Such decisions can only be made at the discretion of the referee.
The GAA hope to significantly reduce the number of injuries by introducing the compulsory wearing of helmets with full faceguards, both in training and matches. Hurlers of all ages, including those at nursery clubs when holding a hurley in their hand, must wear a helmet and faceguard at all times. Match officials will be obliged to stop play if any player at any level appears on the field of play without the necessary standard of equipment.
Hurling is older than the recorded history of Ireland. It is thought to predate Christianity, having come to Ireland with the Celts. It has been a distinct Irish pastime for at least 2000 years. The earliest written references to the sport in Brehon law date from the fifth century. In the book by Seamus King "A History of Hurling" there is a reference from Irish verbal history of hurling as far back as the 1200 B.C. Hurling is related to the games of shinty
that is played primarily in Scotland
, cammag
on the Isle of Man
and bandy
that was played formerly in England and Wales
. The tale of the Táin Bó Cuailgne (drawing on earlier legends) describes the hero Cúchulainn
playing hurling at Emain Macha
. Similar tales are told about Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Fianna
, his legendary warrior band. Recorded references to hurling appear in many places such as the 13th century Statutes of Kilkenny
and a 15th century grave slab survives in Inishowen
, County Donegal
Hurling was said to be played in ancient times by teams representing neighbouring villages. Villages would play games involving hundreds of players, which would last several hours or even days.
The Eighteenth Century is frequently referred to as "The Golden Age of Hurling." This was when members of the Anglo-Irish
landed gentry kept teams of players on their estates and challenged each other's teams to matches for the amusement of their tenants.
One of the first modern attempts to standardise the game with a formal, written set of rules came with the foundation of the Irish Hurling Union at Trinity College Dublin in 1879. It aimed "to draw up a code of rules for all clubs in the union and to foster that manly and noble game of hurling in this, its native country".
The founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association
(GAA) in 1884 turned around a trend of terminal decline by organising the game around a common set of written rules. The 20th century saw greater organisation in hurling and Gaelic football. The all-Ireland hurling championship came into existence along with the provincial championships. Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary dominated hurling in the 20th century with each of these counties winning more than 20 All-Ireland titles each. WexfordWexford GAA
, Waterford, Clare, LimerickLimerick GAA
, Offaly, Dublin, and Galway were also strong hurling counties during the 20th century.
As hurling entered the new millennium, it has remained Ireland's second most popular sport. An extended qualifier system resulted in a longer All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
, but Cork, Tipperary
and Kilkenny
have come to dominate the championship and some argue that the All-Ireland has become less competitive. Pay-for-play remains controversial and the Gaelic Players Association
continues to grow in strength. The inauguration of the Christy Ring Cup
and Nicky Rackard Cup
gave new championships and an opportunity to play in Croke Park
to the weaker county teams. Further dissemination of the championship structure was completed in 2009 with the addition of the Lory Meagher Cup
to make it a 4 tier championship
has a national team (although it includes only players from weaker counties in order to ensure matches are competitive). It and the Scotland
shinty
team have played for many years with modified match rules (as with International Rules Football
). The match is the only such international competition. However, competition at club level has been going on around the world since the late nineteenth century thanks to emigration from Ireland, and the strength of the game has ebbed and flowed along with emigration trends. Nowadays, growth in hurling is noted in Continental Europe, Australasia, and North America.
. Warwickshire GAA
compete against Irish teams in the Lory Meagher Cup
. London GAA
are the only non-Irish team to have won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
(having captured the title in 1901), and still compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup
.
and County Kilkenny
, and also, in New York City
. After the end of the American Revolution
, references to hurling cease in American newspapers until the aftermath of the Potato Famine
when Irish people moved to America in huge numbers, bringing the game with them.
Newspaper reports from the 1850s refer to occasional matches played in San Francisco, Hoboken
, and New York City. The first game of hurling played under GAA rules outside of Ireland was played on Boston Common in June 1886.
In 1888, there was an American tour by fifty Gaelic athletes from Ireland, known as the 'American Invasion.' This created enough interest among Irish Americans to lay the groundwork for the North American GAA
. By the end of 1889, almost a dozen GAA clubs existed in America, many of them in and around New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago
. Later, clubs were formed in Boston
, Cleveland, and many other centers of Irish America. Concord, New Hampshire
has its state's only hurling team, sponsored by The Barley House Pub.
In 1910, twenty-two hurlers, composed of an equal number from Chicago and New York, conducted a tour of Ireland, where they played against the County teams from Kilkenny
, Tipperary
, Limerick
, Dublin
, and Wexford
.
Traditionally, hurling was a game played by Irish immigrants and discarded by their children. Many American hurling teams took to raising money to import players directly from Ireland. In recent years, this has changed considerably with the advent of the Internet. Outside of the traditional North American GAA
cities of New York
, Boston
, Chicago
, and San Francisco, clubs are springing up in other places where they consist of predominantly American-born players who bring a new dimension to the game and actively seek to promote it as a mainstream sport, especially Joe Maher, a leading expert at the sport in Boston. Currently, the Milwaukee Hurling Club
, with 300 members, is the largest Hurling club in the world outside of Ireland, which is made of all Americans and very few Irish immigrants. The St. Louis Gaelic Athletic Club was established in 2002 and has expanded its organization to a six team hurling league in the spring and six team Gaelic football
league in the fall. The Indianapolis Hurling Club began in 2002 then reformed in 2005. In 2008 the Indy Hurling Club won the Junior C National Championship. In 2011 Indy had 7 club teams and sent a Junior B, Junior C and Camogie team to nationals. Hurling continues to grow in popularity with teams now in Orlando, FL, Augusta, GA, Greenville, SC, Indianapolis, IN
, Worcester, MA, Concord, NH and Portland, Maine
.
The GAA have also begun to invest in American college students with university teams springing up at Stanford
, UC Berkeley
, Purdue
, Indiana University
and other schools. On 31 January 2009, the first ever US collegiate hurling match was held between Stanford and UC Berkeley, organized by the newly-formed California Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association. UC Berkeley won the match by 1 point, as well as the most recent best-of-three College Cup, 2 matches to 1. On Memorial Day Weekend of 2011, the first ever National Collegiate GAA championship was played. The Indiana University Hurling Club
won all matches of the tournament, and won by four points in the championship final to be crowned the first ever National Collegiate Champions.
in the 19th century.
The earliest reference to hurling in Argentina dates from the late 1880s in Mercedes, Buenos Aires
. However, the game was not actively promoted until 1900 when it came to the attention of author and newspaperman William Bulfin
. Under Bulfin's patronage, the Argentine Hurling Club was formed on 15 July 1900, leading to teams being established in different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and the surrounding farming communities.
Games of hurling were played every weekend until 1914 and received frequent coverage even from Argentina's Spanish language newspapers, such as La Nación. After the outbreak of World War I
, however, it became almost impossible to obtain hurleys from Ireland. An attempt was made to use native Argentine mountain ash, but it proved too heavy and lacking in pliability. Although the game was revived after the end of the war, the golden age of Argentine hurling had passed. World War II
finally brought the era to its close.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, immigration from Ireland slowed to a trickle. In addition, native born Irish-Argentines assimilated into the local community. The last time that hurling was played in Argentina was in 1980, when the Aer Lingus Hurling Club conducted a three week tour of the country and played matches at several locations. Although the Argentine Hurling Club still exists, it has switched to playing field hockey
and rugby
. Recent efforts have been made to revive hurling at the club by Mick Connery.
as a counterpoint to a march by the Orange Order. Reportedly, the hurling match attracted a crowd of five hundred Irish immigrants, while the Orange march shivered out of existence.
Several hurling clubs existed in Victoria
in the 1870s including Melbourne, Collingwood, Upper Yarra, Richmond and Geelong.
In 1885, a game between two Sydney
based teams took place before a crowd of over ten thousand spectators. Reportedly, the contest was greatly enjoyed despite the fact that one newspaper dubbed the game "Two Degrees Safer Than War."
Arden Street Oval
in North Melbourne was used by Irish
immigrants during the 1920s.
The game in Australasia is administered by Australasia GAA
.
during the Anglo-Boer War are believed to have played the game on the veldt. Immigrants from County Wicklow
who had arrived to work in the explosives factory in Umbogintwini
, KwaZulu-Natal
formed a team c. 1915–1916. A major burst of immigration in the 1920s led to the foundation of the Transvaal Hurling Association in Johannesburg
in 1928. Games were traditionally played in a pitch on the site of the modern day Johannesburg Central Railway Station every Easter Sunday after Mass
.
In 1932, a South African hurling team sailed to Ireland to compete in the Tailteann Games
, where they carried a banner donated by a convent of Irish nuns in Cape Town
. On their arrival, they were personally received by the Taoiseach
(Prime Minister) at the time, Éamon de Valera
.
South African hurling continued to prosper until the outbreak of World War II
, which caused immigration from Ireland to cease and made it impossible to import equipment. Games of hurling and Gaelic football
were occasionally sponsored by the Christian Brothers schools in Boksburg and Pretoria
well into the 1950s. Both games have all but ceased to be played.
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
, and played with sticks called hurleys
Hurley (stick)
A hurley is a wooden stick used to hit a sliotar in the Irish sport of hurling. It measures between 70 and 100 cm long with a flattened, curved end which provides the striking surface...
and a ball called a sliotar
Sliotar
A sliotar or sliothar is a hard solid sphere slightly larger than a tennis ball, consisting of a cork core covered by two pieces of leather stitched together. Sometimes called a "puck" or "hurling ball", it resembles an American baseball with more pronounced stitching...
. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and is thought to be the world's fastest field team game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
in terms of game play. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games
Gaelic games
Gaelic games are sports played in Ireland under the auspices of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The two main games are Gaelic football and hurling...
, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
, such as the field and goals, number of players, and much terminology. There is a similar game for women called camogie
Camogie
Camogie is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women; it is almost identical to the game of hurling played by men. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and world wide, largely among Irish communities....
(camógaíocht). It shares a common Gaelic root with the sport of shinty
Shinty
Shinty is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread, being once competitively played on a widespread basis in England and other areas in the...
(camanachd) which is played predominantly in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The object of the game is for players to use a wooden stick called a hurley
Hurley (stick)
A hurley is a wooden stick used to hit a sliotar in the Irish sport of hurling. It measures between 70 and 100 cm long with a flattened, curved end which provides the striking surface...
(in Irish a camán, pronounced ˈ) to hit a small ball called a sliotar
Sliotar
A sliotar or sliothar is a hard solid sphere slightly larger than a tennis ball, consisting of a cork core covered by two pieces of leather stitched together. Sometimes called a "puck" or "hurling ball", it resembles an American baseball with more pronounced stitching...
(icon) between the opponents' goalposts either over the crossbar for one point, or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for one goal, which is equivalent to three points. The sliotar can be caught in the hand and carried for not more than four steps, struck in the air, or struck on the ground with the hurley. It can be kicked or slapped with an open hand (the hand pass) for short-range passing. A player who wants to carry the ball for more than four steps has to bounce or balance the sliotar on the end of the stick and the ball can only be handled twice while in his possession.
Side-to-side shouldering is allowed although body-checking or shoulder-charging is illegal. No protective padding is worn by players. A plastic protective helmet with faceguard is mandatory for all age groups, including senior level, as of 2010. The game has been described as "a bastion of humility", with player names absent from jerseys and a player's number decided by his position on the field.
Hurling is played throughout the world, and is popular among members of the Irish diaspora
Irish diaspora
thumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. In Ireland, it is a fixture of life. It has featured regularly in both film and literature. In 2007, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine described the media attention and population multiplication of Thurles
Thurles
Thurles is a town situated in North Tipperary, Ireland. It is a civil parish in the historical barony of Eliogarty and is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly...
town ahead of one of the game's annual provincial hurling finals as being "the rough equivalent of 30 million Americans watching a regional lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
game." American soldiers have also expressed their love of the game's warrior ethos.
Statistics
- A team comprises 15 players, or "hurlers."
- The hurleyHurley (stick)A hurley is a wooden stick used to hit a sliotar in the Irish sport of hurling. It measures between 70 and 100 cm long with a flattened, curved end which provides the striking surface...
is generally 79–100 cm (26–40 inches) in length - The goalkeeper's hurley usually has a bas (the flattened, curved end) twice the size of other players' hurleys to provide some advantage against the fast moving sliotar.
- The ball, known as a sliotarSliotarA sliotar or sliothar is a hard solid sphere slightly larger than a tennis ball, consisting of a cork core covered by two pieces of leather stitched together. Sometimes called a "puck" or "hurling ball", it resembles an American baseball with more pronounced stitching...
, has a cork center and a leather cover; it is between 23 and 25 cm in circumference, and weighs between 110 and 120 g - A good strike with a hurley can propel the ball up to and over 150 km/h (93 mph) in speed and 110 metres (361 ft) in distance.
- A ball hit over the bar is worth one point. A ball that is hit under the bar is called a goal and is worth three points.
- As of 2010 all players must wear a helmet, and may wear other protection such as shinguards and/or a special kind of glove called an ashguard.
Playing field
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
; the GAA, which organises both sports, decided this to facilitate dual usage. Lines are marked at 13 m, 20 m, 65 m and 45 m in gaelic football from each end-line. Shorter pitches and smaller goals are used by under-13s and younger.
Teams
Teams consist of fifteen players and they line out as below:
The panel is made up of 24–30 players and 5 substitutions are allowed per game. No exceptions are ever made.
Ball
The ball is called sliotar and it is a subject to strict regulations as regards its size, mass and composition.Timekeeping
Senior inter-county matches last 70 minutes (35 minutes per half). All other matches last 60 minutes (30 minutes per half). For age groups of under-13 or lower, games may be shortened to 50 minutes. Timekeeping is at the discretion of the referee who adds on stoppage time at the end of each half.If a knockout game finishes in a draw, a replay is played. If a replay finishes in a draw, 20 minutes extra time is played (10 minutes per half). If the game is still tied, another replay is played.
In club competitions, replays are increasingly not used due to the fixture backlogs caused. Instead, extra time is played after a draw, and if the game is still level after that it will go to a replay.
Technical fouls
The following are considered technical fouls ("fouling the ball"):- Picking the ball directly off the ground (instead it must be flicked up with the hurley or the foot)
- Throwing the ball (instead it must be "hand-passed": slapped with the open hand)
- Going more than 4 steps with the ball in the hand (it may be carried indefinitely on the hurley though)
- Catching the ball three times in a row without it touching the ground (touching the hurley does not count)
- Putting the ball from one hand to the other
- Hand-passing a goal
- Throwing the hurley
- Square ball: If, at the moment the ball enters "the square" (the small rectangle surrounding the goal), there is already an attacking player inside, a free out is awarded
Scoring
Scoring is achieved by sending the sliotarSliotar
A sliotar or sliothar is a hard solid sphere slightly larger than a tennis ball, consisting of a cork core covered by two pieces of leather stitched together. Sometimes called a "puck" or "hurling ball", it resembles an American baseball with more pronounced stitching...
(ball) between the opposition's goal posts. The posts, which are at each end of the field, are "H" posts as in rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
but with a net under the crossbar as in soccer. The posts are 6.4 m apart and the crossbar is 2.44 m above the ground.
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the top hurling teams in Ireland....
final finished: Clare
Clare GAA
The Clare County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Clare GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Clare. The county board is also responsible for the Clare inter-county teams....
0–20 Tipperary
Tipperary GAA
The Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or C is one of over 30 regional executive boards throughout the world. These executive boards are known as County Boards even though some no longer correspond to the area under the jurisdiction of the counties from which their names...
2–13. Thus Clare won by "twenty points to two thirteen" (20 to 19). 2–0 would be referred to as "two goals", never "two zero". 0–0 is said "no score".
Tackling
Players may be tackled but not struck by a one handed slash of the stick; exceptions are two handed jabs and strikes. Jersey-pulling, wrestling, pushing and tripping are all forbidden. There are several forms of acceptable tackling, the most popular being:- the block, where one player attempts to smother an opposing player's strike by trapping the ball between his hurley and the opponent's swinging hurl;
- the hook, where a player approaches another player from a rear angle and attempts to catch the opponent's hurley with his own at the top of the swing; and
- the side pull, where two players running together for the sliotar will collide at the shoulders and swing together to win the tackle and "pull" (name given to swing the hurley) with extreme force.
Restarting play
- The match begins with the referee throwing the sliotar in between the four midfielders on the halfway line.
- After an attacker has scored or put the ball wide of the goals, the goalkeeper may take a puckout from the hand at the edge of the small square. All players must be beyond the 20 m line.
- After a defender has put the ball wide of the goals, an attacker may take a "65" from the 65 m line level with where the ball went wide. It must be taken by lifting and striking. However, the ball must not be taken into the hand but struck whilst the ball is lifted.
- After a player has put the ball over the sideline, the other team may take a sideline cut at the point where the ball left the pitch. It must be taken from the ground.
- After a player has committed a foul, the other team may take a free at the point where the foul was committed. It must be taken by lifting and striking in the same style as the "65".
- After a defender has committed a foul inside the Square (large rectangle), the other team may take a penalty from the ground from the centre of the 20 m line. Only the goalkeeper and two defenders may guard the goals. It must be taken by lifting and striking.
- If many players are struggling for the ball and no side is able to capitalize or gain control of the sliotar the referee may choose to throw the ball in between two opposing players.
This is also known as a Clash.
Officials
A hurling match is watched over by eight officials:- The referee
- Two linesmen
- Sideline Official/Standby Linesman (inter-county games only)
- Four umpires (two at each end)
The referee is responsible for starting and stopping play, recording the score, awarding frees and issuing penalty card
Penalty card
A penalty card is used in many sports as a means of warning, reprimanding or penalising a player, coach or team official. Penalty cards are most commonly used by referees or umpires to indicate that a player has committed an offense. The referee will hold the card above his or her head while...
s to players after offences.
Linesmen are responsible for indicating the direction of line balls to the referee and also for conferring with the referee.
The fourth official is responsible for overseeing substitutions, and also indicating the amount of stoppage time (signalled to him by the referee) and the players substituted using an electronic board.
The umpires are responsible for judging the scoring. They indicate to the referee whether a shot was: wide (spread both arms), a 65 m puck (raise one arm), a point (wave white flag), or a goal (wave green flag).
Contrary to popular belief within the association, all officials are not obliged to indicate "any misdemeanours" to the referee, but are in fact only permitted to inform the referee of violent conduct they have witnessed which has occurred without the referees knowledge. A linesman/umpire is not permitted to inform the referee of technical fouls such as a "Third time in the hand", where a player catches the ball for a third time in succession after soloing or an illegal pick up of the ball. Such decisions can only be made at the discretion of the referee.
Helmets
From 1 January 2010 the wearing of helmets with faceguards became compulsory for hurlers at all levels. This saw senior players follow the regulations already introduced in 2009 at minor and under 21 grades.The GAA hope to significantly reduce the number of injuries by introducing the compulsory wearing of helmets with full faceguards, both in training and matches. Hurlers of all ages, including those at nursery clubs when holding a hurley in their hand, must wear a helmet and faceguard at all times. Match officials will be obliged to stop play if any player at any level appears on the field of play without the necessary standard of equipment.
History
Hurling is older than the recorded history of Ireland. It is thought to predate Christianity, having come to Ireland with the Celts. It has been a distinct Irish pastime for at least 2000 years. The earliest written references to the sport in Brehon law date from the fifth century. In the book by Seamus King "A History of Hurling" there is a reference from Irish verbal history of hurling as far back as the 1200 B.C. Hurling is related to the games of shinty
Shinty
Shinty is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread, being once competitively played on a widespread basis in England and other areas in the...
that is played primarily in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, cammag
Cammag
Cammag is a team sport originating on the Isle of Man. It is closely related to the Scottish game of shinty and is similar to the Irish hurling...
on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
and bandy
Bandy
Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...
that was played formerly in England and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The tale of the Táin Bó Cuailgne (drawing on earlier legends) describes the hero Cúchulainn
Cúchulainn
Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
playing hurling at Emain Macha
Emain Macha
]Navan Fort – known in Old Irish as Eṁaın Ṁacha and in Modern Irish as Eamhain Mhacha – is an ancient monument in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. According to Irish legend, it was one of the major power centers of pre-Christian Ireland...
. Similar tales are told about Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Fianna
Fianna
Fianna were small, semi-independent warrior bands in Irish mythology and Scottish mythology, most notably in the stories of the Fenian Cycle, where they are led by Fionn mac Cumhaill....
, his legendary warrior band. Recorded references to hurling appear in many places such as the 13th century Statutes of Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
and a 15th century grave slab survives in Inishowen
Inishowen
Inishowen is a peninsula in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. It is also the largest peninsula in all of Ireland. Inishowen is a picturesque location with a rich history...
, County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
Hurling was said to be played in ancient times by teams representing neighbouring villages. Villages would play games involving hundreds of players, which would last several hours or even days.
The Eighteenth Century is frequently referred to as "The Golden Age of Hurling." This was when members of the Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
landed gentry kept teams of players on their estates and challenged each other's teams to matches for the amusement of their tenants.
One of the first modern attempts to standardise the game with a formal, written set of rules came with the foundation of the Irish Hurling Union at Trinity College Dublin in 1879. It aimed "to draw up a code of rules for all clubs in the union and to foster that manly and noble game of hurling in this, its native country".
The founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
(GAA) in 1884 turned around a trend of terminal decline by organising the game around a common set of written rules. The 20th century saw greater organisation in hurling and Gaelic football. The all-Ireland hurling championship came into existence along with the provincial championships. Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary dominated hurling in the 20th century with each of these counties winning more than 20 All-Ireland titles each. WexfordWexford GAA
Wexford GAA
The Wexford County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Wexford GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Wexford. The county board is also responsible for the Wexford inter-county teams.-History:Hurling has been played in...
, Waterford, Clare, LimerickLimerick GAA
Limerick GAA
The Limerick County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Limerick GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Limerick...
, Offaly, Dublin, and Galway were also strong hurling counties during the 20th century.
As hurling entered the new millennium, it has remained Ireland's second most popular sport. An extended qualifier system resulted in a longer All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the top hurling teams in Ireland....
, but Cork, Tipperary
Tipperary GAA
The Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or C is one of over 30 regional executive boards throughout the world. These executive boards are known as County Boards even though some no longer correspond to the area under the jurisdiction of the counties from which their names...
and Kilkenny
Kilkenny GAA
The Kilkenny County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland and is responsible for Gaelic Games in County Kilkenny. The county board has its head office and main grounds at Nowlan Park and is also responsible for Kilkenny inter-county teams...
have come to dominate the championship and some argue that the All-Ireland has become less competitive. Pay-for-play remains controversial and the Gaelic Players Association
Gaelic Players Association
The Gaelic Players Association The GPA was formed in 1999 when former IMG employee Donal O'Neill and a number of high profile inter-county players including Tyrone's Fergal Logan and Peter Canavan, Derry's Fergal McCusker and Dublin's Dessie Farrell were instrumental in the birth of the organisation...
continues to grow in strength. The inauguration of the Christy Ring Cup
Christy Ring Cup
The Christy Ring Cup is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2005 for middle-ranking hurling teams in Ireland....
and Nicky Rackard Cup
Nicky Rackard Cup
The Nicky Rackard Cup is a competition for the Tier 3 hurling teams of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The tournament is organised by the [Gaelic Athletic Association]] and is played during the summer months with the final being played in Croke Park, Dublin...
gave new championships and an opportunity to play in Croke Park
Croke Park
Croke Park in Dublin is the principal stadium and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association , Ireland's biggest sporting organisation...
to the weaker county teams. Further dissemination of the championship structure was completed in 2009 with the addition of the Lory Meagher Cup
Lory Meagher Cup
The Lory Meagher Cup is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2009. It is a competition for the fourth tier of hurling teams in the Gaelic Athletic Association....
to make it a 4 tier championship
International
Although many hurling clubs exist worldwide, only IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
has a national team (although it includes only players from weaker counties in order to ensure matches are competitive). It and the Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
shinty
Shinty
Shinty is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread, being once competitively played on a widespread basis in England and other areas in the...
team have played for many years with modified match rules (as with International Rules Football
International rules football
International rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players....
). The match is the only such international competition. However, competition at club level has been going on around the world since the late nineteenth century thanks to emigration from Ireland, and the strength of the game has ebbed and flowed along with emigration trends. Nowadays, growth in hurling is noted in Continental Europe, Australasia, and North America.
Britain
Hurling was brought to Britain by Irish immigrants in the nineteenth century. The game is administered by British GAABritish GAA
The British Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association or British GAA is the only provincial council of the Gaelic Athletic Association outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in Great Britain...
. Warwickshire GAA
Warwickshire GAA
The Warwickshire County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association is one of the county boards outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in Warwickshire. The county board is also responsible for the Warwickshire inter-county teams-Hurling:In 2005 Warwickshire fielded a hurling team in...
compete against Irish teams in the Lory Meagher Cup
Lory Meagher Cup
The Lory Meagher Cup is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2009. It is a competition for the fourth tier of hurling teams in the Gaelic Athletic Association....
. London GAA
London GAA
The London County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or London GAA is one of the county boards outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in London...
are the only non-Irish team to have won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the top hurling teams in Ireland....
(having captured the title in 1901), and still compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup
Nicky Rackard Cup
The Nicky Rackard Cup is a competition for the Tier 3 hurling teams of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The tournament is organised by the [Gaelic Athletic Association]] and is played during the summer months with the final being played in Croke Park, Dublin...
.
North America
References to hurling on the North American continent date from the 1780s in modern-day Canada concerning immigrants from County WaterfordCounty Waterford
*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...
and County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. The territory of the county was the core part of the ancient Irish Kingdom of Osraige which in turn was the core of the Diocese of...
, and also, in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. After the end of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, references to hurling cease in American newspapers until the aftermath of the Potato Famine
Potato famine
Potato famine may refer to:* Great Famine , the famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852* Highland Potato Famine, a major agrarian crisis in the Scottish Highlands from 1846 to 1857...
when Irish people moved to America in huge numbers, bringing the game with them.
Newspaper reports from the 1850s refer to occasional matches played in San Francisco, Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, and New York City. The first game of hurling played under GAA rules outside of Ireland was played on Boston Common in June 1886.
In 1888, there was an American tour by fifty Gaelic athletes from Ireland, known as the 'American Invasion.' This created enough interest among Irish Americans to lay the groundwork for the North American GAA
North American GAA
The North American County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or North American GAA is one of the boards of the GAA outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in the United States of America, excluding the New York metropolitan region, which is under the control of the New York GAA...
. By the end of 1889, almost a dozen GAA clubs existed in America, many of them in and around New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Later, clubs were formed in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Cleveland, and many other centers of Irish America. Concord, New Hampshire
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
has its state's only hurling team, sponsored by The Barley House Pub.
In 1910, twenty-two hurlers, composed of an equal number from Chicago and New York, conducted a tour of Ireland, where they played against the County teams from Kilkenny
County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. The territory of the county was the core part of the ancient Irish Kingdom of Osraige which in turn was the core of the Diocese of...
, Tipperary
County Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
, Limerick
County Limerick
It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...
, Dublin
County Dublin
County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
, and Wexford
County Wexford
County Wexford is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wexford. In pre-Norman times it was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnselaig, whose capital was at Ferns. Wexford County Council is the local...
.
Traditionally, hurling was a game played by Irish immigrants and discarded by their children. Many American hurling teams took to raising money to import players directly from Ireland. In recent years, this has changed considerably with the advent of the Internet. Outside of the traditional North American GAA
North American GAA
The North American County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or North American GAA is one of the boards of the GAA outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in the United States of America, excluding the New York metropolitan region, which is under the control of the New York GAA...
cities of New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and San Francisco, clubs are springing up in other places where they consist of predominantly American-born players who bring a new dimension to the game and actively seek to promote it as a mainstream sport, especially Joe Maher, a leading expert at the sport in Boston. Currently, the Milwaukee Hurling Club
Milwaukee Hurling Club
The Milwaukee Hurling Club has promoted the sport of hurling through education and game play since 1996.The Milwaukee Hurling Club first introduced the sport of hurling to Milwaukee in 1996 with 30 members. In 1997, four teams were formed and this enabled the club to hold regular games. From 1998...
, with 300 members, is the largest Hurling club in the world outside of Ireland, which is made of all Americans and very few Irish immigrants. The St. Louis Gaelic Athletic Club was established in 2002 and has expanded its organization to a six team hurling league in the spring and six team Gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
league in the fall. The Indianapolis Hurling Club began in 2002 then reformed in 2005. In 2008 the Indy Hurling Club won the Junior C National Championship. In 2011 Indy had 7 club teams and sent a Junior B, Junior C and Camogie team to nationals. Hurling continues to grow in popularity with teams now in Orlando, FL, Augusta, GA, Greenville, SC, Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, Worcester, MA, Concord, NH and Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
.
The GAA have also begun to invest in American college students with university teams springing up at Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, UC Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, Purdue
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
and other schools. On 31 January 2009, the first ever US collegiate hurling match was held between Stanford and UC Berkeley, organized by the newly-formed California Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association. UC Berkeley won the match by 1 point, as well as the most recent best-of-three College Cup, 2 matches to 1. On Memorial Day Weekend of 2011, the first ever National Collegiate GAA championship was played. The Indiana University Hurling Club
Indiana University Hurling Club
Indiana University Hurling Club is a club sports hurling team at Indiana University. The club is now in its fourth year in existence.-History:...
won all matches of the tournament, and won by four points in the championship final to be crowned the first ever National Collegiate Champions.
Argentina
Irish immigrants began arriving in ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
in the 19th century.
The earliest reference to hurling in Argentina dates from the late 1880s in Mercedes, Buenos Aires
Mercedes, Buenos Aires
Mercedes is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located 100 km west from Buenos Aires and 30 km south west of Luján. It is the head town of the district of Mercedes as well as of the judicial district...
. However, the game was not actively promoted until 1900 when it came to the attention of author and newspaperman William Bulfin
William Bulfin
William Bulfin was the fourth son in a family of nine boys and one girl, the children of William Bulfin, of Derrinlough, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland, and Ellen Grogan of Croghan, County Offaly....
. Under Bulfin's patronage, the Argentine Hurling Club was formed on 15 July 1900, leading to teams being established in different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and the surrounding farming communities.
Games of hurling were played every weekend until 1914 and received frequent coverage even from Argentina's Spanish language newspapers, such as La Nación. After the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, however, it became almost impossible to obtain hurleys from Ireland. An attempt was made to use native Argentine mountain ash, but it proved too heavy and lacking in pliability. Although the game was revived after the end of the war, the golden age of Argentine hurling had passed. World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
finally brought the era to its close.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, immigration from Ireland slowed to a trickle. In addition, native born Irish-Argentines assimilated into the local community. The last time that hurling was played in Argentina was in 1980, when the Aer Lingus Hurling Club conducted a three week tour of the country and played matches at several locations. Although the Argentine Hurling Club still exists, it has switched to playing field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
and rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
. Recent efforts have been made to revive hurling at the club by Mick Connery.
Australia and New Zealand
The earliest reference to hurling in Australia is related in the book "Sketches of Garryowen." On 12 July 1844 a match took place at Batman's Hill in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
as a counterpoint to a march by the Orange Order. Reportedly, the hurling match attracted a crowd of five hundred Irish immigrants, while the Orange march shivered out of existence.
Several hurling clubs existed in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in the 1870s including Melbourne, Collingwood, Upper Yarra, Richmond and Geelong.
In 1885, a game between two Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
based teams took place before a crowd of over ten thousand spectators. Reportedly, the contest was greatly enjoyed despite the fact that one newspaper dubbed the game "Two Degrees Safer Than War."
Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval is a sports oval based in Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is currently the training base of Australian rules team North Melbourne Football Club and up to the end of the 1985 season it was used for elite-level VFL/AFL matches.-History:The North Melbourne...
in North Melbourne was used by Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrants during the 1920s.
The game in Australasia is administered by Australasia GAA
Australasia GAA
The Australasia County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association , or Australasian GAA, or Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia is one of the county boards of the GAA outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games all across Australasia. It is also responsible for Australasian...
.
South Africa
Soldiers who served in the Irish BrigadeIrish Brigade
Irish Brigade may refer to:* Irish Brigade , the Jacobite brigade in the French army, 1690–1792 * Irish Brigade , pro-Union Civil War brigade of Irish immigrants...
during the Anglo-Boer War are believed to have played the game on the veldt. Immigrants from County Wicklow
County Wicklow
County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...
who had arrived to work in the explosives factory in Umbogintwini
Umbogintwini
Umbogintwini is a town near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Its post office received the corrected name in 1997.-References:...
, KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
formed a team c. 1915–1916. A major burst of immigration in the 1920s led to the foundation of the Transvaal Hurling Association in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
in 1928. Games were traditionally played in a pitch on the site of the modern day Johannesburg Central Railway Station every Easter Sunday after Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
.
In 1932, a South African hurling team sailed to Ireland to compete in the Tailteann Games
Tailteann Games
The Tailteann Games were an ancient sporting event held in Ireland in honour of the goddess Tailtiu. They ran from 632 BC to 1169-1171 AD when they died out after the Norman invasion....
, where they carried a banner donated by a convent of Irish nuns in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. On their arrival, they were personally received by the Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
(Prime Minister) at the time, Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
.
South African hurling continued to prosper until the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, which caused immigration from Ireland to cease and made it impossible to import equipment. Games of hurling and Gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
were occasionally sponsored by the Christian Brothers schools in Boksburg and Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
well into the 1950s. Both games have all but ceased to be played.
Quotes
Major hurling competitions
- All-Ireland Senior Hurling ChampionshipAll-Ireland Senior Hurling ChampionshipThe GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the top hurling teams in Ireland....
- Connacht Senior Hurling ChampionshipConnacht Senior Hurling ChampionshipThe Connacht Senior Hurling Championship was the premier "knockout" competition in the game of hurling played in the province of Connacht in Ireland. The series of games were organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association and were played during the summer months.Over the last number of years the...
- Leinster Senior Hurling ChampionshipLeinster Senior Hurling ChampionshipThe Leinster GAA Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1888 for the top hurling teams in the province of Leinster in Ireland....
- Munster Senior Hurling ChampionshipMunster Senior Hurling ChampionshipThe Munster GAA Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1888 for the top hurling teams in the province of Munster in Ireland....
- Ulster Senior Hurling ChampionshipUlster Senior Hurling ChampionshipThe Ulster Senior Hurling Championship is the premier intercounty "knockout" competition in the game of hurling played in the province of Ulster. The series of games are organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association and are played during the summer months. The Ulster Hurling Final is played in July...
- Connacht Senior Hurling Championship
- National Hurling LeagueNational Hurling LeagueThe National Hurling League is an annual hurling competition between the county teams of Ireland. Contested by 35 teams , it operates on a system of promotion and relegation between four different divisions, with Division One...
- Christy Ring CupChristy Ring CupThe Christy Ring Cup is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 2005 for middle-ranking hurling teams in Ireland....
- Nicky Rackard CupNicky Rackard CupThe Nicky Rackard Cup is a competition for the Tier 3 hurling teams of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The tournament is organised by the [Gaelic Athletic Association]] and is played during the summer months with the final being played in Croke Park, Dublin...
- All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling ChampionshipAll-Ireland Senior Club Hurling ChampionshipThe All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship is an annual hurling tournament played between hundreds of senior hurling clubs in Ireland. The Tommy Moore Cup is awarded to the winners. The current champions are Clarinbridge...
- Leinster Senior Club Hurling ChampionshipLeinster Senior Club Hurling ChampionshipThe Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship is an annual Hurling tournament played between the winners of the senior club hurling championships of the counties in Leinster. The current holders of the Leinster title are Ballyhale Shamrocks from Kilkenny. The first Leinster senior club hurling...
- Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship
- All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling ChampionshipAll-Ireland Under-21 Hurling ChampionshipThe All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship is the premier "knockout" competition for players aged between 18 and 21 in the game of hurling played in Ireland...
- Leinster Under-21 Hurling ChampionshipLeinster Under-21 Hurling ChampionshipFor the Senior equivalent see: Leinster Senior Hurling ChampionshipThe Leinster U-21 Hurling Championship or for sponsorship reasons the Erin Leinster Under-21 Hurling Championship is an U-21 hurling tournament. The first tournament took place in 1964 when Wexford were crowned champions. Wexford...
- Leinster Under-21 Hurling Championship
- All-Ireland Minor Hurling ChampionshipAll-Ireland Minor Hurling ChampionshipThe GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship is an annual competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1928 for competitors under eighteen years of age in the game of hurling played in Ireland.The series of games are played during the summer months with the All-Ireland final...
- Poc Fada
- Féile na nGaelFéile na nGaelFéile na nGael , Irish for "Festival of the Gaels") is an annual tournament comprising the sports of hurling, camogie and handball organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association...
- Composite Rules Shinty/Hurling (usually internationals between Scotland and Ireland)
Notable players
External links
- Playing Rules
- Constitution and Rules of the GAA
- Match Regulations 2008
- Official website of the Gaelic Athletic Association
- Sliotar Hurling Magazine
- An Fear Rua – the GAA Unplugged
- Video introduction to hurling
- Continental Youth Championships
- A Brief History of the Argentine Hurling Club
- Hurling in Australia and New Zealand
- Gaelic Football, Hurling are Irish Passions, National Geographic News
- Hurling, Men's Fitness Magazine
- Selection of hurling photos from Sportsfile Sports Photo Agency
- KilkennyCats.com Hurling Forum
- Seamus J. King, author website
- What is Hurling, youtube