I’m getting a free preview of some station through Dish Network right now that seem to show hurling about 24 hours a day.
Take a couple steps and whack a ball 100 yards?
What REALLY amazes me is that I’ve managed to make it to age 35 with no awareness of this sport. I’m aware of HOCKEY and CURLING, but not HURLING!
Cricket. Yup. Australian Rules Football. Check.
I’m even aware of that Afghani game where they move a goat carcass around.
I can identify caber toss, for cripes sake. I’ve even seen a match where some indigenous people throw a spear at a coconut that is perched atop a pole.
But, I can state, pretty equivocably, that I have never seen a clip of hurling before.
How small is this sport? What kind of people play it/follow it?
Very brief answer, I’m not a ‘big fan’ but I can fill in some facts:
One of 3 sports indigenous to Ireland (The others being Gaelic football and handball). The governing body is The Gaelic Athletic Association. It’s a much more involved game than merely belting a ball 100 meters up a field and is fairly widely followed by the Irish populace. Certainly in my neck of the woods not knowing anything about hurling would be considered unusual, once you get to Dublin and further north the emphasis shifts to Gaelic football.
My cable system used to have a Fox network that showed a sample of “international” sports. Including Hurling–& Gaelic Football. I’m hardly a jock, but found the game pretty interesting–very fast moving.
There’s a bunch of SCAdians in my area that usually get together at events and have a game. It looks like fun but I’ve yet to try it. Some of the players get pretty brutal so it wasn’t surprising to see some rattan hurleys appear for SCA fighting.
For those unfamiliar with hurling, allow me to surmise:
It is a miracle that people do not DIE during this game. It is a true testament to the awesome skill of the players that everybody walks off the pitch at the end. Its your basci, drive a leather ball between goalposts using wooden bats (or “Hurleys”, hence the name) played at breakneck speed. If you happen to watch it on tv, you may think its just guys running around, swinging at the air: this is because the ball moves that fast it is sometimes impossible to see. It is estimated that a good hurler can strike a ball (sliotar) at around the same speed as Tiger Woods’ golfball leaves the tee. Yo can only move with the ball if it is balanced on your hurley: picture a man balncing a tennis ball on a stick and running the lenght of the pitch without it falling off. Oh, and did I mention its a full contact sport, often to the point of hurleys snapping in half? So, you’ve got a guy balancing a ball on a stick, sprinting up a field being tackled by several other guys, avoiding them, then driving said ball sixty yards through posts about 12 feet apart. The precision and skill of these men is unsurpassed. And no protective clothing either (but some wear helmets). Tough motherfuckers.
It’s a total amateur sport. The boys are hard and talented fuckers. At top level it is the best field game I have ever seen live. I would advise any visitor to try and catch a game in Croke Park if they get a chance to.
I’ve played Gaelic football for most of my life but I only played hurling for a season or so. One of the reasons that there aren’t more serious injuries is because the players are very skilled at standing close enough to their opponent to avoid the arc of the swing. That is, they are rarely in a position where they are going to be at the end of the arc and get a right walloping.
It’s a great game though it’s mostly dominated by a few counties in the south west.
Big match on this weekend, the Dubs take on Derry. If the Dubs win then they should player Kerry in the semi-final. You’ve seen nothing like a Dublin-Kerry match. I’ll be back on the Hill for that one.
Indeed, should be a good one. He’s talking about Gaelic Football BTW folks not Hurling.
In keeping with my youtube frenzy here’s a classic Dub-Kerry highlights clips. When the music kicks in turn the sound down only lasts for a min though and it’s got Colm Meaney at the end
(mental calculation: if field hockey is the more violent, female version of ice hockey and hurling is the most insanely violent sport I’ve ever seen, just how violent can camogie be?)
Sure what would a talk about hurling be without a bit of Micheal Ó Muircheartaigh’s great commentary lines over the years.
“… and Brian Dooher is down injured. And while he is, i’ll tell ye a little story. I was in Times’ Square in New York last week, and I was missing the Championship back home. So I approached a newsstand and I said ‘I suppose ye wouldn’t have the Kerryman would ye?’ To which,the Egyptian behind the counter turned to me and he said ‘do you want the North Kerry edition or the South Kerry edition?’… he had both…so I bought both. And Dooher is back on his feet…”
“1-5 to 0-8… well from Lapland to the Antarctic, that’s level scores in any man’s language”.
“Teddy looks at the ball, the ball looks at Teddy”
"Sean Og o Hailpin… his father’s from Fermanagh, his mother’s
from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold
"Pat Fox out to the forty and grabs the sliothar, I bought a dog
from his father last week. Fox turns and sprints for goal, the dog ran a great race last Tuesday in Limerick. Fox to the 21 fires a shot, it goes to the left and wide… and the dog lost as well
only lasts for a min though and it’s got Colm Meaney at the end