Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic and Irish origin. SDARL Alumni went to the Saturday afternoon game featuring Limerick versus Kilkenny, where 55,001 fans watched the game at Croke Park.
It is an amateur sport administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The game has prehistoric origins, and has been played for 4,000 years. Hurling has been called the fastest game on grass; most skillful game in the world. It is also one of the oldest with its traditions set in the midst of ancient Irish history.
It is a stick and ball game, played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass field with H-shaped goals at each end. The primary object is to score by driving the ball through the goals or putting the ball over the bar and thereby scoring a point. Three points is the equivalent of a goal.
The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. As the world’s fastest field game, it combines skills from lacrosse, field hockey, and baseball in a hard-hitting, highly paced game.