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Taking a Look at Hurling

Decent Essays

Hurling is believed to be the worlds oldest and fastest paced sport in history. Its roots have prehistoric origins and have been played for over 3,000 years, even older than recorded history of Ireland, which is its national game of play. The history itself of hurling is longer than the Bible and often unclear. Nonetheless hurling is an incredible sport full of rich history and a truly rigorous sport.
Since hurling is not a well-known sport to us Americans, I’m going to give a brief background of the sport and how it is played. Hurling is an outdoor team game; each team consists of 15 players on the field aka “Hurlers”. The field of play is relatively the same shape of a rugby field but just a bit larger: 140-160 yards long and 90-100 yards wide (Hurling GAA). Scoring is a mix of American football and soccer. At each end of the field are an H-shaped goalpost; the soccer type goal and a field goal type extension on top of that. If the ball (sliotar) is struck inside the bottom net, that team is rewarded three points, if the ball is struck and goes in-between the top field goal posts the team gets one point. The equipment of the game consists of a ball, sliotar that is roughly the size of a baseball but with raised ridges. The stick called a hurley, roughly 40 inches long, shaped like a field hockey stick is curved outwards at the end to provide a larger striking surface for the player. The only protective gear worn is a helmet with a faceguard, which before 2010 was not

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