Gaelic Sports

If you think that Rugby and Soccer are difficult games to follow, then try Gaelic Football or Hurling! We didn't know much about them, so we went to that source or all knowledge, Wilipedia and this is what we found.

Gaelic Football

Gaelic football is played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end. The primary object is to score by kicking or striking the ball with the hand and getting it through the goals. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. Players advance the ball up the field with a combination of carrying, soloing (dropping and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands), kicking, and hand-passing to their team-mates.

Statistics show the game drawing significantly more spectators than any other sport in the Republic of Ireland recently; 2005 ESRI figures indicate that it draws 34% of total attendances at sports events in Ireland, with the closest rival, hurling drawing 23%.

Football is one of four Gaelic games run by the Gaelic Athletic Association, the largest sporting organisation in Ireland with more than 800,000 members. It has strict rules on player amateurism and the pinnacle of the sport is the inter-county All-Ireland Football Final. The game is believed to have descended from ancient Irish football known as caid which dates back to medieval times, although the modern rules were not set down until 1886.

The grass pitch is rectangular, stretching 130–145 meters long and 80–90 meters wide. That's over 150 yards by almost 100 yards - that is almost three times the size of an Football field.

All Gaelic sports are amateur; easing the strictness with which this is interpreted is advocated by the Gaelic Players Association. The basic unit of each game is organised at the club level, which is usually arranged on a parish basis, with various local clubs playing to win the County Championship at various levels. 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, with the men's decider regularly attracting crowds of over 80,000. Guests who attend include the President of Ireland, the Taoiseach and leading dignitaries.

Two levels of the game are played at each All-Ireland, the Senior team and the Minor team (consisting of younger players, under the age of 18, who have played their own Minor All-Ireland competition). The winning senior county football team receives the Sam Maguire cup. The most successful county in the history of football is Kerry, with 36 All-Ireland wins, followed by Dublin, with 23 wins.

Here is one of many clips from YouTube.

 

Hurling

Hurling is the second most popular game in Ireland. It is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, also administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and is thought to be the world's fastest field team game in terms of game play. It shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, number of players, and much terminology. It shares a common Gaelic root with the sport of shinty which is played predominantly in Scotland.

The object of the game is for players to use a wooden stick, called a hurley, to hit a small ball, called a sliotar, between the opponents' goalposts either over the crossbar for one point, or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for one goal, which is equivalent to three points. The sliotar can be caught in the hand and carried for not more than four steps, struck in the air, or struck on the ground with the hurley. It can be kicked or slapped with an open hand (the hand pass) for short-range passing. A player who wants to carry the ball for more than four steps has to bounce or balance the sliotar on the end of the stick and the ball can only be handled twice while in his possession.

Again, a great YouTube clip.