Ireland's Answer To Hockey (Kind of?)

The British Reaction

So Sky Sports recently bought the rights to show hurling matches. This means that our...friends...across the pond in Great Britain are being given the chance to see hurling on TV for the first time. Their reaction was priceless!
However, I suppose if I hadn't been reared on it, hurling would seem pretty damn strange to me! So I thought I'd do a bit of an introduction!

The Basics!

The Wikipedia explainer is here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling), but basically it's 15 players ona team, each carries a stick called a hurley and the idea is to use this stick to whack a small, but really heavy ball called a sliothar in between the bars for 1 point, or in the goal for 3 points!
It's a very face paced 70mins, and requires a whole lot of skill. You can only carry the ball for a few steps, after that you have to balance the ball on the stick while you run (and avoiding the mad bastard chasing you with his stick), or throw it up and hit it hard and accurately on the way down!

Mind Yer Head

One of the most notable points of hurling is that, despite the heavy ball and sticks, it wasn't until 2010 that helmets were made mandatory!

Irish Pride

All players are amateurs; they train all year round, in all weather (99% of the time rain) and dedicate their lives to the game for no pay and few perks. You play for your town or County (like State in the US I guess? But on a smaller scale), and it's a massive source of pride.
If you know any Irish people, you know they probably wear their county jersey the second the sun comes out!

This Was Actually Really Difficult To Explain.....

So, this was a very bad introduction, but there's only so much words can say! So if you like sports, or want to see what a typical Sunday in Ireland is spent watching, take a look at this-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajeagHCk15g

And Thanks For Reading!