Lonely Planet Description Of Hurling

RE*AC*TOR · 05-08-2004 11:55am #1

Don't know if this is true - interesting though.

Hurling isn't what the Irish do when they've had too much Guinness
(well, not always). It's actually a mad kind of aerial hockey invented
to make the English feel embarrassed about tiggy-touchwood
soccer. If
you haven't had the twisted pleasure of seeing this example of
man's
inhumanity to man, head to the Emerald Isle - but keep your head
down.
This 15-century-old activity pulls no punches. A hurling match is
perhaps the fastest spectator sport in the world (with only ice
hockey
matching it for up-close frenzy).From a distance it resembles a
roaming pack-fight between men with thin pale legs and names like
Liam
and Sean. At ground level it's much more frightening, a kind of
15-a-side escape from the asylum. Hurling is rapid, breakneck and
rambunctious. The game moves too fast for the novice to
understand
anything but the most basic rules, but you can start by imagining
an
egg-and-spoon race with a pack of enormous angry stick-wielding
roosters charging the leader. The aim !
is to hurtle a pellet-hard ball called a sliotar into goals using a
stick with a paddle at its end (hurley). The players balance the
sliotar on their hurley and then run, hit or bounce it forward,
sometimes with all limbs attached. It's when the ball falls loose into
a pack that the bravery (or stupidity) of the combatants becomes
clear. The running game becomes like a stationery game of no-rules
hockey as players run in swinging their hurleys in the manner of a
lumberjack on speed. Whacks to the shins are common, as is the
occasional broken hand as some poor soul actually tries to pick the
sliotar up out of this chaos. The best place to see hu! rling is the
atmospheric Croke Park in Dublin. It's home of the GAA - hurling's
governing body - and the scene of high-attendance finals matches.
For
those with an interest in the game's long history, Croke Park also
hosts a high-tech museum. Of course, with the Irish being such great
travelers, there's probably a game going on near!
you this weekend too.

UnrealQueen · 06-08-2004 1:56am

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

players run in swinging their hurleys in the manner of a
lumberjack on speed.

LOL

fizzynicenice · 06-08-2004 12:52pm

Brilliant, too bloody true

JohnK · 06-08-2004 6:33pm

lmao

Funny cause its true...

TomTom · 08-08-2004 1:55am

Hey yet another example of lonley planet being idiots in their description of things. There lates edition of the australia book is causing a few people to be upset in cairns with the descriptions of the locals of northern queensland. The local papers were not to happy with them and slated the book to the ground.