Hurling is a sport that originated in Ireland. Some sports historians say the game is almost 2,000 years old. The game is played mostly in Ireland or by small groups of Irish people living in other countries.
In hurling, a leather-covered ball (called a slitter) is caught on a stick with a wide curved blade (called a hurley). In order to score, the ball must be thrown into a net.
In 1884 the Gaelic Athletic Association established the rules for hurling. One of the rules stated that all hurling players and officials were prohibited from “playing, watching, or otherwise encouraging” the sports of soccer, rugby, or cricket. Those were games played by the hated British, and Ireland was then struggling to throw off British rule.
In 1922 Ireland gained its independence. But the rules forbidding any kind of association with rugby, soccer, or cricket are still in the book.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
https://www.the42.ie/gaa-ending-of-ban-on-foreign-games-2096952-May2015/
This book was published in 1983, but Liss didn’t realize that the ban had been overturned by the GAA in 1971.
huh…when i was in england hurling was something that frequently happened at the end of a pub crawl
never knew it was a sport
welp…the more you know
Not that kind of hurling…unless you compete for distance.
I went to college once…
Is this a game still played in Ireland?
It sure is.
That looks dangerous!
I appreciate that you follow up and correct Liss’ inaccuracies, @butcherbakertoiletrymaker. Sometimes I find myself mentally bashing Liss for the errors (recovering journalist that I am), and then remember that fact-checking is way easier now than it was in the early ’80s.