The antiquity of hurling in Ireland, is said to date back over a thousand years, the game is mentioned in ancient tales of the Battle of Moytura,and in the exploits of the legendary heroes Cuchulainn and Finn MacCool, and the lives of various saints. The pre-Norman conquest Brehon Laws included ‘judgements on games’ (‘meallbreatha’) for such issues as blood being shed by boys playing games not to be a punishable offence and rules for the property and design of the stick, or ‘camán’. he Statutes of Kilkenny stated in 1366 that men could not “use the plays which men call horlinges, with great sticks and a ball upon the ground” and the Galway Statutes of 1527 stated that they could “at no time to use ne occupy ye hurling of ye litill balle with the hookie sticks.” These bans were applied to English usurpers rather than Irishmen. The 18th and early 19th hurling was to the Irish what cricket was to the English, and there is ample evidence of reports of impressive matches being played, between rival counties. Joseph Strutt’s wrote in admiration of hurling in 1801 of how players “would catch up the ball upon the bat and often run with it for considerable time, tossing it occasionally from the bat and recovering it. In the late18th and 19th century wore on, hurling declined, this was due many factors, such as the potato blights, Irish holocaust, evictions and British rule, mass emigration and Irish slavery. Michael Cusack, founded the Metropolitan Hurling Club in 1883 determined to maintain and protect this ancient Irish sport, what he called “the manliest game ever played by any branch of humankind,” and despite difficult beginnings eventually led to the formation of the GAA.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 19:51:49 +0000
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