What do you know about Gaelic sports (pt. 2)?

In the last post we talked about Gaelic Football and now we’re going to discover something more about another traditional Irish sport: Hurling. Exactly as Gaelic Football, Hurling is managed by GAA and it’s an amateur sport. But to play it’s not enough to have grit, good legs and athletic preparation, you also need a hurley to hit the sliotar!

Here are 10 things you have to know about Hurling

1/ A team comprises 15 hurlers and from 2010, all players must wear a helmet.

2/ The posts are 6.4 m apart and the crossbar is 2.44 m above the ground.    

3/ If the sliotar 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.

4/ Picking the ball directly off the ground (instead it must be flicked up with the hurley) and going more than four steps with the ball in the hand (it may be carried indefinitely on the hurley though) are considered technical fouls.

5/ Players may be tackled but not struck by a one handed slash of the stick; exceptions are two handed jabs and strikes.

6/ A hurling match is watched over by one referee, two linesmen, a sideline official and four umpires (two at each end).

7/ Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary are considered “the big three” of hurling. These teams have won 90 out of 126 championships during its history.

8/ The final of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was listed in second place by CNN in its “10 sporting events you have to see live”

9/ Hurling is considered older than the recorded history of Ireland. It is thought to predate Christianity, having come to Ireland with the Celts.

10/ There is a similar game for women called Camogie (camógaíocht)

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