Hurling, No, Not what you do the morning after

Hurling is Europe's oldest field game.  When the Celts came to Ireland as the last ice age was receding, they brought with them a unique culture, their own language, music, script and unique pastimes. 

Nowadays, hurling is played on a pitch approximately 137m long and 82m wide. The goalposts are the same shape as on a rugby pitch, with the crossbar lower than a rugby one and slightly higher than a soccer one.

The stick, or "hurley" (called camán in Irish) is curved outwards at the end, to provide the striking surface.  The ball or "sliothar" is similar in size to a hockey ball but has raised ridges.

Hurling is a mix of many different sports.  It falls between hockey, lacrosse, and baseball and has been described as 'brutal field hockey in the air' or 'lacrosse without sticks.'  If your a fan of Harry Potter, imagine quidditch without the flying, and only using only one ball.

One of these pastimes was a game now called hurling.  It is featured in Irish folklore to illustrate the deeds of heroic mystical figures and it is chronicled as a distinct Irish pastime for at least 2,000 years.  Before Celtic military battles, the two sides would play massive hurling games where they used whatever plank of wood they could find and try to get the ball into the opposing town.  This pre-battle was agreed upon in order to toughen up the soldiers and get them mentally prepared for battle.

The english term for the sliothar is puck and this may be why the 'ball' in hockey is called a 'puck'.  The two sports, hockey and hurling are similar in nature and even have similar names.  When the the British/Irish came to Canada, they brought along a hurley stick and puck and could have been used to play the first hockey game in Canada.  The shape of hurling sticks used in Ireland during the mid 1800s are similar to the shape of hockey sticks in use today.

In hurling, you may strike the ball on the ground, or in the air. Unlike hockey, you may pick up the ball with your hurley and carry it for not more than four steps in the hand. (Although, when you watch a hurling game, it seems more like three seconds)  After those steps, you may bounce the ball on the hurley and back to the hand, but you are forbidden to catch the ball more than twice. To get around this, one of the skills is running with the ball balanced on the hurley.  To score, you put the ball over the crossbar with the hurley or under the crossbar and into the net by the hurley for a goal, the latter being the equivalent of three points.

Each team consists of fifteen players, lining out as follows: 1 goalkeeper, three full-backs, three half-backs, two midfielders, three half-forwards and three full-forwards.

A game is played over two halves of 30 minutes.

Players wear a jersey with their team colors and number on the back. Both teams must have different color jerseys. The goalkeepers' jerseys must not be similar to the jersey of any other player. Referees normally tog out in black jerseys, socks and togs.

Goalkeepers may not be physically challenged whilst inside their own small parallelogram, but players may harass them into playing a bad pass, or block an attempted pass.

Teams are allowed a maximum of three substitutes in a game. Players may switch positions on the field of play as much as they wish, but this is usually on the instructions of team officials.

Officials for a game comprise of a referee, two linesmen (to indicate when the ball leaves the field of play at the side and to mark '65'' free kicks and 4 umpires (to signal scores, assist the referee in controlling the games, and to assist linesmen in positioning ''65' frees).

A goal is signalled by raising a green flag, placed to the left of the goal. A point is signalled by raising a white flag, placed to the right of goal. A '45'/'65' is signalled by the umpire raising his/her outside arm. A 'square ball', when a player scores having arrived in the 'square' prior to receiving the ball, is signalled by pointing at the small parallelogram.