Hurling?

Cafe Society
21

Basically. Although I would have had to correct you if you said “Hurling for Ladies”.
Another doper a while back asked for advice on how to play hurling; here’s what I told him;

Right, lets imagine you’re in croke park playing. First thing you need to do is get the sliotar.
So, its coming to you through the air: NEVER swing the hurley at it! Catch it with one hand. If you can do this while jumping at full strecth, its much cooler.
Now, you have the sliotar. What do you want to do?

1: Run. Hold the hurley by the base (Narrow end) in one hand, like a frying pan. Balance the sliotar on the broad end, and run like fuck up the field, bouncing the sliotar as you go. You can’t just hold the ball and run, thats a foul. Bounce it on the hurley and you can run all day. Bear in mind that some fuckers gonna take you down real soon, so it might be a good idea to:

2: Pass. Holding the base of the hurley in your weak hand, and the sliotar in the other, toss the sliotar in the air. Then switch your grip to both hands at the base, like a baseball bat, and swing like fuck. Try and aim for the ball to go to a team-mate. This motion can also be used to try to score. If a team-mate is close at hand, you can just toss the ball up and pat it with your free hand to him. If the ball is intercepted by an opponent, then it’s time to:

3: Tackle. There is no real pointers for this. He has the ball. You want it. You have a stick in your hand. You’ll think of something. However, if he strikes for goal, you may have to:

4: Intercept. The ball is heading for goal. You have to stop it. You can use the hurley in a tennis-racket style to stop the sliotars path, but men have been known to catch the ball right after it leaves the opponents hurley. All the more incredible when you consider that a sliotar can leave a hurley at up to two hundred mph. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: tough motherfuckers. Who, in the course of the game, will probably foul you. So, its time to take a:

5: Free shot. This is probably what you want to learn, its really cool. Ball on ground, ok? Hold the hurley weak hand at base, dominant hand towards the front. Put the flat, broad head of the hurley on the sliotar on the ground. In one motion

a) Roll the sliotar back until the hurley slips to the ground.
b) Sharply move the hurley forward, rolling the sliotar onto it.
c) Give a sharp jerk up, sending the sliotar straight up in front of you.
d) Position yourself, hurley held like a bat.
e) When the ball reaches the right height, swing like fuck (Seems a lot of things in this game are done “Like Fuck”).
Just think; scoop into air, wallop real hard. With a bit of luck, this is the winning score! You’ve won!!
Thats the basics for hurling. And get a gumshield, and practice saying things like “I’m gonna bite your fuckin’ ears off if you catch this ball”, like my friend would always say to his opponents during games. He rarely got tackled.
Well, I translated that from what he actually said; “Amma chaw d’fuckin lugs’a you, cunt”.

22

Brilliant.

23

From Dublin, they’re south west. And really, Dublin is the centre of the country so that’s all that counts.

Seriously though, I’d add Kilkenny to that mix of the SW counties who dominate hurling (Limerick, Offaly, Cork, Kilkenny, Waterford, Galway (when their minds are right) etc.)) Fact is, hurling is dominated by a few counties moreso than Gaa.

24

Shinty is a Scottish Highlands game, and although it has some roots in common with hurling it’s played differently; the hands aren’t used except by the goalkeeper. It’s more like a slightly wilder version of field hockey given that you can use either side of the stick, play the ball while it is in the air, and use the foot (on the ground) to stop the ball.

Despite the large differences between the games, there is an annual cross-code international between Scotland and Ireland using composite rules.

25

An American comedian (Gallagher, I think) advocated to liven up baseball, allowing the batter to take the bat with him on the basepath. “You’re going into enemy territory, man. Take that stick with you!” I think I know where he got the idea now.

26

I’ve always thought Hurling might break internationally. It hasn’t happened yet but it’s one of the more interesting games to watch.
My co-worker quit playing Hurling because of all the injuries he was sustaining. He showed us the various scars and lumps missing.

27

It’s an ***old * ** game. There a part called The Hurling Match of Mach Nia in the Leabhar Gebhala Eireann - that’s the mythological cycle of Irish mythology, which makes it contemporary with The Iliad.

A friendly game of hurley…in which about 50-or-so die.

28

I am desperate to play this game. I played ice hockey, I played lacrosse. Put the two together, take away the pads and I imagine hurling comes close.

Unfortunately this summer when I visited Ireland there were no matches during the time I was there in the locations I visited. I was very disappointed, but that gives me reason to go back to that beautiful country.

29

Looks like it would be fun to watch live, but watching the clips, I find that I have the same problem I do with ice hockey - I can’t see the frikkin’ ball.

Joe