Hurling anyone?

An Irish sport

By Lisa Roulston
Courier Staff

The history of hurling

Hurling can be described as one of the fastest and most skilful field games in the world.  This ancient Gaelic sport can be traced back to the fifth century. The Great Famine damaged the support for the game until its revival in 1884 when The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was founded. Within six months of The GAA’s first meeting hurling clubs started to open up all over Ireland. Today The GAA has over 2,500 clubs in Ireland.  When the Irish immigrated to other countries they brought their national games with them and Gaelic games are played all over the world.  Both regional and club units are now well-established in America, Australia, Britain, Canada and mainland Europe.

What is hurling?

Hurling is very similar to field hockey; it is played with a small ball and a curved wooden stick.  The stick known as “caman” in Irish is curved outwards at the end and the ball is similar in size to a hockey ball but it has raised ridges.  

Hurling is played on a pitch approximately 137 meters long and 82 meters wide.  The goal posts can be described as a combination of a soccer goal with a football goal post on top.  Each team consists of 15 players: one goalkeeper, three full-backs, two midfielders, three half-forwards and three full-forwards.

The players may strike the ball on the ground or in the air.  The players are allowed to pick up the ball with their stick and carry it no more than four steps in their hand.  

After the fourth step, the players may bounce the ball on the stick and then back into their hand, but they are not allowed to do this more than twice.  To get around this rule, the players normally run with the ball balanced on their stick.

To score, the players need to get the ball over the soccer net with the stick or into the net.  Three points are equal to one goal and the goal is signaled when a green flag is raised and placed to the left of the goalposts.

Hurling in America

If you are interested in watching a game or getting involved, contact The North American County Board (NACB) at info@nagaa.org. They promote hurling and other Gaelic games through approximately 100 clubs in over 30 cities across the U.S.A, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C