Gaelic Games - Coming to Sky Sports

[Mokong]

Just thought I'd make a thread to see how many people (not in Ireland) are familiar with/seen/even heard of the two Irish Sports, Gaelic Football and Hurling.

 

And if not what will you think of it after watching some footage.

 

I remember a few months back some friends of my mother came to visit from London and I drove them around sight seeing for a bit and we passed a local gaelic pitch and they started asking about it as they'd never seen it before.

 

And only last night while playing MW3 online with the N-E Clan somehow a conversation of Gaelic games came up so I thought I'd make a thread about it.

 

The Gaelic Football was easy enough for them to get their heads around, most people think of it a "Football but you can handle the ball", there's a little more to it than that, for example while you can handle the ball and carry it you can only carry it for 4 steps then it has to leave your hands in some way... you can juggle or bounce the ball and catch it again and run another 4 steps and repeat but you can't juggle or bounce twice in a row.

 

In some ways it can be seen as similar to Aussie Rules Football and as such there is a "Comprimise Rules" or "International Rules" tournament between an Irish All-Star Gaelic team and an Aussie Rules All Star team and the rules of both sports are mashed together to make a hybrid sport.

 

I'm personally not that into Gaelic Football... don't know why... much prefer "normal" Football... could be because I'm from Waterford which is generally a hurling county (though if only the team would bring home more sliverware )

 

And Hurling is the sport I find kinda harder to explain and I find explaining to to people unfamilar with it 9 times out of 10 they find it hard to beleive I'm telling the truth.

 

The basic way to describe it I guess is 15 players on each team all with "sticks" (Hurleys) usually about waist high chasing a ball a little bigger than a tennis ball and ALOT harder than a tennis ball. It's usually refered to as "The Fastest Sport on Earth".

 

The usual question I get after making that description is "Ah but surely they wear some protection like in Ice hockey?"

 

Answer...nope, in fact up till 2010 (at senior level) the use of Helmets and Shingaurds was optional.... so you could always tell which were the hard as nail players as they were the ones who opted to not wear a helmet... but in 2010 the rules were changed and now it is required

 

I believe Scotland has a similar sport called Shinty and there is an International Rules equivelent between the two similar to the Gaelic Football and Aussie Rules though I don't think it's that popular as I never seen it aired or referenced in papers.. only read about it online If there's any Scots who know more about Shinty please post about it : peace:

 

I used to play both Gaelic and Hurling when I was in school, enjoyed the Hurling the most one memory that sticks with all these years is taking a full smack from a sliotar (hurling ball) at near point blank to the chest... left me with a red round mark for a month

 

There's Mens and Womens tournaments of both but the Womens "Hurling" goes by the name "Camogie"... I can't remember why that is...must google later.

 

There's club level tournaments but the "main events" are the All-Ireland Championships which is contested between the county teams plus there's a team from New York and London...though they are in the lower tiers of the tournament these though London does have the honor of being the first and only non-Irish team to win the All-Ireland Hurling Championship....in 1901

 

Generally any Hurling or Gaelic played outside of Ireland would be between Irish who have moved away but I've heard Hurling is apparently becoming very popular in Hungry lately amongst the locals too.

 

All teams at all levels are ametuer too so there is no buying and selling of players, you play for the country where you are born or live and thats pretty much it.

 

Anyway I found two really good videos on youtube that show and describe very well each sport.

 

 

[Eddage]

My housemate plays Camogie, I actually think her team won the county championship thing in the Summer.

 

Or at least won something.

 

She's only 20 say may not have been full level...

 

I should really listen more.

[sumo73]

I'm not in Ireland but already know about those sports. Half my family are from N. Ireland.

Shame we don't get to see them on standard TV anymore (like Channel 4 - UK)

 

Does anyone remember 'Gaelic Games: Football' on PS2 before?

[Mokong]

I'm not in Ireland but already know about those sports. Half my family are from N. Ireland.

Shame we don't get to see them on standard TV anymore (like Channel 4 - UK)

 

Does anyone remember 'Gaelic Games: Football' on PS2 before?

 

I thought that game only released in Ireland? There was a hurling one too I think, never played either but I did hear they were very poor.

 

Would be interested to see how a big Sports Games Developer like EA would make games of both sports with a proper budget... though likely won't ever happen

[EddieColeslaw]

From my experience, camogie is basically hockey except the stick hurts more when someone whacks it against your shin.

[Wesley]

Holy fuck Hurling looks fucking awesome.

 

But at the same time watching it gives me a horrible feeling inside, like my hands and balls might just drop off me at any moment.

 

Wouldn't want to play that in a million years.

[jayseven]

Used to watch it early saturday mornings when I was a kid - loved it! Wouldn't dare play it myself, these days.

[edza]

Used to play hurling meself back in school. It was a great sport back then to give a kid confidence in himself. The training books basically told you to use the hurl as you would a sword and if your shins or head weren't bleeding at the end of a competitive match, you mustn't have had a good match.

 

Love the game to this day and the All Ireland Hurling Final day is something to be looked forward to all year.

 

With regard to Gaelic Football, just as an historical aside; it was created in its current guise, by the GAA (ruling association) to fight back against the growing popularity of Rugby in the country. Foreign sports were frowned upon and seen as "durty protestant games" by the majority catholics so they invented Gaelic Football as a "good catholic game" for the youths too crap at hurling to play.

 

It's true that there was a very old version that could have anything from 25 to 100 people per team that was played in the areas between towns for hundreds of years previously but the one you see on the tv now was the attempt at stopping Rugby from being popular.

 

It's a crap game though. Hurling is way better and has been played on this island since before christianity by pagan warriors of different clans.

[Ramar]

I love how the Hurling video says "+ the skills of Hockey" then basically shows a guy taking what appears to be a very unskilled and brutal swing at the ball.

 

Btw what's the point of the goalie, no one saving that from 5 yards out.

[Frank]

I love the presence of the Gaelic Games. It's a wonderful thing to have there. Plus it further differentiates us as our own country. I'm patriotic in that way.

 

Although I'm more into the historical significance of it as well as the social aspects of it. Such as bringing communities together and giving the Irish some sort of...hope..you could say during the fight for independence. It was such an Irish thing that people clung onto it. From a personal standpoint, though, I didn't like it growing up. My Dad would insist on me and my brother practising hurling in our local pitch. [i was shit]. My grandparents would always be shocked when I told them (more than once) that I didn't play football or hurling which was rather annoying. Being a boy I was expected to play all of these sports - and well - which is ridiculous. I was a small, tiny-framed young boy who didn't have much strength to begin with and pressure was put on me to play the fastest and one of the most physical sports in the world. Uhr, no thanks. I'm also biased in the sense of school's preference for sport players. Hurlers were in *that* sort of school clique -- they were big, strong, intimidating, loud and aggressively hetero / against anyone who didn't fit the mould of a typical "male".

.....................................................So much else can be said.

 

As I've grown up though I have appreciated it a lot.

[edza]

Btw what's the point of the goalie, no one saving that from 5 yards out.

 

This.

[Mokong]

It's a crap game though. Hurling is way better and has been played on this island since before christianity by pagan warriors of different clans.

 

You just wouldn't say that with a Kerryman around :wink:

 

Yeah Hurling is such an ancient game it even comes up in some of the old legends, especially associated with the Cú Chulainn legend. I was actually thinking of telling Cú Chulainn's story in my St. Patricks day video for my Youtube this year... but was thinking I'll need to make a video explaining Hurling first just in case as a lot of my viewers are from the States and the Philippines

 

Btw what's the point of the goalie, no one saving that from 5 yards out.

 

 

This.

 

Haha, nice one Edza... I was actually waiting for someone to say exactly what Ramar said... it seems like there's not much a keeper would be able to do in a sport like Hurling but you'd be surprised how many shots a keeper will actually save in a game. Most points scored in hurling are the single points over the crossbar. Not often you get a lot of high goal scoring games at all.

[mcj metroid]

I've been reading through this thread and thinking about what to say for some time now.

 

I think I've decided that I love the idea of hurling and have virtually no opinion on gaelic football. I'm from Limerick, so we suck at everything and nobody cares about Gaelic here.

 

I have a lot of respect for GAA for keeping things like hurling and gaelic popular for THIS long. It cannot be easy with the strong competition from Soccer and Rugby.

 

HOWEVER the GAA culture is pretty backward sometimes. It's very much a rural Ireland sport so tends to be...a bit behind in mentality compared to other sports. For example homophobia is pretty rampant and isn't reported as such by the GAA. The young people who play it tend to be complete retards in my experience too. I went to a school that was massive on rugby and hurling and boy the difference is something.

 

But that's just a generalisation based on my own personal experiences. I'm sure there are loads of lovely hurlers ( I just haven't met many open-minded ones)

[Mokong]

BUMP

 

 

Thought I'd give this thread a "little" Bump.

 

Sky Sports have bought broadcast rights to 20 All-Ireland Championship games (across both Hurling and Gaelic Football), so anyone here who hasn't ever seen a Hurling game will now be able to do so this summer if you have Sky Sports

 

14 of Skys 20 games will be exclusive to Sky and they will also be showing, they will also broadcast the All-Ireland Semi-Finals and Finals for both Hurling and Gaelic Football (non-exclusive, these matches will still be shown Free to Air in Ireland on RTÉ)

 

Currently confirmed fixtures which will be broadcast on Sky include Kilkenny v Offaly and Dublin v Wexford in the Leinster Senior Huring Championship; Sligo v Galway/London in the Connacht Senior Football Champioship; and Armagh/Cavan v Down/Tyrone/Monaghan in the Ulster Senior Football Championship.

 

Bit of a big development for Gaelic Games I think, I'm tempted to get back Sky Sports over the summer to see what their coverage of the sports (particularly Hurling) are like and how they will do pre halftime and post game analysis

[Wii]

Just @Mokong was talking about Hurling this evening and this is the bruise I was talking about.

 

 

That's what a sliotar will do to you at full force.

 

That's nothing compared to some of the injuries they get. It was worse a few years back before helmets became mandatory. I remember a friend of mine years ago got a swipe of the hurley in the mouth, broke his jaw and nearly every tooth and his jaw wired shut for over 6 months. It was the edge of the hurley which made it all the more damaging. It was horrific but a complete accident. It's incidents like that that caused the rules to be changed. That and law suits.

 

Tipperary v Offaly is on Sky Sports 3 at 7.00 p.m this Saturday. You should watch it. I expect Tipperary to walk the game but it'll give ye an idea of what it's like.

[Wii]

A reminder that the hurling in on this evening, it's Tipperary v Offaly on Sky Sports 3 at 7.

[Mokong]

Bit late forgot to bump this eariler but if anyone reading this has Sky Sports turn on Sky Sports 3 for the All Ireland Hurling Final. Power houses Kilkenny vs Tipperary with bout 15mins left

 

EDIT

 

 

Fantastic game that was but finished in a draw so will be replay on the 27th

[Wii]

Bit late forgot to bump this eariler but if anyone reading this has Sky Sports turn on Sky Sports 3 for the All Ireland Hurling Final. Power houses Kilkenny vs Tipperary with bout 15mins left

 

EDIT

 

 

Fantastic game that was but finished in a draw so will be replay on the 27th

 

It was a fantastic game. I think Tipperary deserved it more but maybe a draw was fair overall. Drama from start to finish right up to the final missed free by inches. The goals were what helped Kilkenny big time. Tipperary should have had more goals and the changed rules on penalties hampered them. Can't wait for the replay. Folks if you like sport, give it a view, it's terrific stuff and you won't regret it.

[Wii]

The All Ireland Football Final between Kerry and Donegal is on today. Throw-in is at 3.30 and it's on Sky Sports 3 for those living abroad.