Sport in Ireland

Hurling is the most ancient indigenous sport  of Ireland (featuring in such pre-Christian legends as Cúchulainn) but Gaelic football is more popular.   Soccer and rugby unions are also popular, and the Irish are noted for turning up in great numbers for virtually any sporting occaison where there are Irish competing.

 

Gaelic Athletic Association

Hurling

Gaelic football

 

 

Gaelic Athletic Association

The Gaelic Athletic Association (The GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael) is an organisation which is mostly focused on promoting gaelic games (Irish sports) such as hurling and camogie, Gaelic football and handball, and rounders not only in the Republic but also in Northern Ireland.  The organisation also promotes Irish music and dance, and the Irish language as an integral part of its objectives. The organisation is based on the traditional parishes and counties of Ireland. It is the largest and most popular organisation in Ireland (established in 1884) with some 800,000 members out of the island's 5 million people.

 

Aims of the GAA:

1. To foster and promote the native Irish pastimes.

2. To open athletics to all social classes.

3. To aid in the establishment of hurling and football clubs which would organise matches between counties.

 

 

Yellow on the map indicates a Gaelic football county, blue a hurling county and green a "dual county", where both sports are equally popular.  Gaelic football is obviously the most popular sport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurling

Hurling (Irish: Iomáint) is an outdoor team sport of Celtic origin, played with sticks and a ball. The women's variant of hurling is called Camogie.  Hurling was first mentioned in a description of the 14th century BC Battle of Moytura.  Hurling has also been mentioned in several other old Irish sources since and the game has enjoyed popularity through the ages. The game, played primarily in Ireland, is arguably the world's fastest field team sport in terms of game play (however the ball travels faster in other field games such as hockey).  It resembles the games of shinty that is played primarily in Scotland, and bandy that was played formerly in England and Wales.  Hurling is one of Ireland's native sports. Since 1884, hurling has been governed by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA).  The most important match is the GAA All-Ireland Intercounty Championship which takes place annually in a modified knock-out format (egyenes kieséses). The final matches are played at Croke Park and regularly attract attendances of up to 83,000 people.  Significant hurling matches are those between the counties of Ireland in each of the four national provinces.

The pitch is of grass and rectangular, stretching 130-150 metres long and 80–90 metres wide (it's like a soccer field).  There are H-shaped goalposts at each end with a net on the bottom section. A team comprises 15 players.  The objective of this field game is for one of two teams to score more goals and points, during a match, than the other. Each player has a stick for handling, carrying and hitting the ball. The stick, which is known as a hurley or camán, is generally 25–38 inches (64–97 cm) in length with a flat face opposite its handle called a bas.  The ball, which is known as a sliotar, is made of leather and is 2.55 inches (65 mm) in diameter.  The goalkeeper's hurley has a bas twice the size of other players' hurleys to provide some advantage for the fast moving sliotar.  A good strike with a stick can propel the ball up to 93 mph (150 km per hour) in speed and 262 feet (80 m) in distance.

During a match, players attack their opposing goal and protect their own. When the ball is on the ground, it must be played by striking or lifting it off the ground with the hurley into the air where it may be struck again or placed into the hand for four seconds or four steps, whichever comes first. If the ball is caught, the catching player may not throw it or carry it for the shorter of four paces or four seconds, but is allowed to strike the ball with a stick or hand, or by kicking.  The hurley's bas may be used to carry the ball while a player controls it.  Accidental collisions between players and equipment do occur and so a plastic protective helmet with faceguard is recommended.  Senior inter-county matches last 70 minutes (35 minutes a half). All other matches last 60 minutes (30 minutes a half).

 

 

 

 

Gaelic football

Gaelic football (Irish: peil ghaelach) is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. The first reference to any code of football in Ireland occurs in the Statute of Galway of 1527, which allowed the playing of football and archery but banned hurling as well as other sports.  At first glance Gaelic Football resembles a combination of soccer and rugby. The level of tackling allowed is more robust than in soccer, but less than rugby.  Players (15 per team) advance the ball up the field with a combination of carrying, kicking, and hand-passing to their team-mates. The pitch is the same that is used for hurling, having H-shaped goalposts at each end with a net on the bottom section. The goal is guarded by a goalkeeper. The game is played with a round leather ball, similar to a soccer ball, but heavier. If the ball goes over the crossbar, a point is scored. If the ball goes below the crossbar, a goal, worth three points, is scored.

 

The following are considered technical fouls ("fouling the ball"):

On a national level, the team is organised on the old Irish county system, producing 34 teams (Dublin has more than one) representing the original 32 counties that cover the island of Ireland, plus teams representing the Irish diaspora in London and New York. Though Ireland was partitioned into two states in 1920, Gaelic sports (like most cultural organisations) continue to be organised on an all-island basis. Nearly all counties play against each other in a knockout tournament known as the All Ireland Championship. The games are organised on the four Irish provinces of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht. The best team from each would play one of the others, at a stage known as the All-Ireland semi-finals, with the winning team from each game playing each other in the All-Ireland Final which takes place on the fourth Sunday of September in Croke Park, Dublin.  Over the four Sundays of September, All Ireland Finals in men's football, women's football, hurling and camogie take place in Croke Park, the national stadium of the GAA.

 

 

sources:

Wikipedia:  Gaelic football, Hurling

 

 

sources & credits:

1. Hurling photos © Cushendun Emmets GAC 2006

2. Gaelic football:  extracted from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia under GNU Free Documentation Licence.

3. Hurling:  extracted from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia under GNU Free Documentation Licence.

4. GAA:  extracted from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia under GNU Free Documentation Licence.