What the hell is Hurling?

I've been asked many times what Hurling is...

So, I figured it might be a good idea to write it down.

Hurling is a rare sport in that its origins are ancient - over 3000 years old, but it is still relevant and as intense (more so, in fact) as other modern sports like baseball, football, and soccer. Hurling looks like many other field sports. The goals look like soccer goals, but with football/rugby style uprights. Players carry sticks called hurls or hurleys that look like a cross between baseball bats and field hockey sticks. The ball itself, called a sliotar, looks nearly identical to a baseball; upon closer inspection though the seams are sewn differently. Players are lined out similar to soccer. But for all of those similarities, hurling remains distinctly separate from other sports.

Other than when a team scores or the sliotar goes out of bounds, play does not stop. The sliotar is in constant movement. This is largely due to two rules that are not found in any other sport.

The first rule is that a player cannot hold the sliotar in their hand for more than four steps or the time it would take to move four steps before hitting it away, or resetting it off of his hurley.

The second rule reinforces the first. A player may not have the sliotar in hand more than two times in a row. This mean that if a player catches or lifts the ball, they can take their four steps and then reset it off of their hurley, take four more steps and then must hit it away.

What these two rules really do, and why they are so significant is that they change the fundamental strategy of the game. Soccer, football, baseball, lacrosse and other field sports all rely upon the idea of possession; hurling does not. Basic strategy deals with movement, dynamic play. Everything must be done on the go, making hurling one of the most fluid enjoyable and beautiful games to watch.