Hurling or Camogie is an Irish sport played with a wooden stick (called hurley) and a small ball (sliotar). The former is the men’s game and the latter the women’s version. The game has ancient roots and is believed to have come to Ireland with the Celts. It is also said to be the fastest field sport in the world.
Here’s a jigsaw for you! Can you put the pieces together? Once you are done, read on to learn more about the sport.
References
There are written references to the sport in the Brehon Law, the statutes that date back to the 5th century CE and governed life in medieval Ireland. There are other records that mention Hurling such as the Statutes of Kilkenny (14th century) and a gravestone from the 15th century.
In the 18th century, the members of the landed gentry in Ireland had Hurling teams on their estates that played matches against each other. In 1879, the rules of hurling were formalised with written rules and the formation of the Irish Hurling Union. In 1904, it was an unofficial sport at the Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles.
The women’s version, called Camogie, was launched officially in 1904 with the first public match between Craobh an Chéitinnigh and Cúchulainns. The word camogie is the Anglicised version of the Irish camógaíocht. The Camogie Association, which governs the sport, was founded in 1905. In Ireland, around 100,000 women play the game and it is mentioned in Samuel Becket’s famous play Waiting for Godot.
Global spread
With the migration of the Irish to other countries, camogie also spread across the world. Today, it is played in Great Britain, The U.S., Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The game also has a presence in some South Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
Both Hurling and Camogie have an All-Ireland championship each. While the former was founded in 1900, the latter began in 1932. The team that wins the Hurling championship is awarded the M. J. “Inky” Flaherty Cup and the Camogie champions are presented with the O’Duffy Cup.
In 2018, UNESCO added Hurling/Camogie to its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
