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Replying To Roger: "Have great respect for the hurling folk, each to their own. Would watch it on the TV now and again, been to a couple of games (including a few All-Ireland semi-finals when they were double headers) but it did nothing for me. I'm just a football person. I'm in a football county and know some hurling heads who don't like a size five but that's their choice.
I see hurling as a minority sport as its only first choice in maybe ten counties. The standard of hurling in the weaker counties is dire - it like 12 Kilkenny football teams.
I'll never knock someone who plays hurling or wants to promote it, that's what makes the GAA what it is.
The only thing that bugs me is that every time there is a good game of hurling you get all this 'greatest game in the world' malarkey. It's like small man syndrome, continually trying to convince everybody how great you are. I saw a tweet which summed it up. If your friend says he got a new car, you go 'fair play to you'. However, if your friend says they got a new car and it's the best car in the world, you think 'dickhead'.
Hurling people should be happy in their own skin." Got to say I'm totally in agreement with you , it's a sport that's of little interest to me, the hype around the two games at weekend did little for me, I tuned in and out of both and found them not that interesting tbh. (Probably going to be shot for that ) but it's just not my thing, whereas last week I was glued to every second of every game. I've held a hurl and what I thought was jasus that would make great kindling. But each to their own. Once you enjoy sport in one way or another then fair play, but the constant you have to like hurling from hurling people gets tiresome, many people couldn't care less about it. Give me a bad football match between two junior b teams any day over any game of hurling.
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 31/07/2018 08:24:15
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Replying To 890202: "But sure its really a disgrace that probably more than half of counties in Ireland couldnt give a toss about hurling and focus on football. There is no comparison. Even hurling played badly is more entertaining than football played well.
Hurling is probably seen as a nuisance in the likes of Fermanagh, Cavan, Tyrone, Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Louth, Longford.
Its amazing really how its only a few counties take it seriously in terms of club scene.
As liam Griffin once said "if coca cola can market and sell coloured gripe water then surely we can promote hurling in Longford"" "Hurling played badly better than football played well"? No it isn't. I have watched hurling being played badly & apart from the joke element of fellas flailing away at a sliotar that was going nowhere, it has little to recommend it.
As for it being seen as a nuisance by some counties, at least the counties named above can field a county team unlike one hurling bastion I could name.
As a matter of record, Donegal played in Division 2B getting 6 points out of a possible 10 which hardly puts them in chump territory. If it does then the same could be said of quite a number of hurling "strongholds" as regards football, Wexford included.
MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 31/07/2018 08:30:03
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Replying To Roger: "Have great respect for the hurling folk, each to their own. Would watch it on the TV now and again, been to a couple of games (including a few All-Ireland semi-finals when they were double headers) but it did nothing for me. I'm just a football person. I'm in a football county and know some hurling heads who don't like a size five but that's their choice.
I see hurling as a minority sport as its only first choice in maybe ten counties. The standard of hurling in the weaker counties is dire - it like 12 Kilkenny football teams.
I'll never knock someone who plays hurling or wants to promote it, that's what makes the GAA what it is.
The only thing that bugs me is that every time there is a good game of hurling you get all this 'greatest game in the world' malarkey. It's like small man syndrome, continually trying to convince everybody how great you are. I saw a tweet which summed it up. If your friend says he got a new car, you go 'fair play to you'. However, if your friend says they got a new car and it's the best car in the world, you think 'dickhead'.
Hurling people should be happy in their own skin." The small man bit can be taken two ways , your interpretation is one ,I've allways viewed it differently , hurling folk of which I'm not , when they state it's the greatest game in the world which they do a lot , it's because they actually believe it , they are a different breed , I've rarely heard football people speak with the same passion for the game , not to be confused with passion for the county team ,over the years looking at HS what unites people is Not the love of football , more the opportunity to bitch moan and engage in one upmanship, I love both sports and would attend equally , I have never played hurling and only attended my first game about 15 years ago so I'd consider my opinion to be fairly observant as opposed to made out of blind loyalty , this year has been a vintage year for hurling , and bar the last weekend of football were we got some great games by and large not the greatest football year
Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 31/07/2018 08:45:55
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Hurling has its core fans but football appeals to a much wider base and therefore more numerous viewers. It does get a bit repetitive hearing how great hurling is in comparison to football. Go and enjoy it but give us a break.
Workingclass (Mayo) - Posts: 26 - 31/07/2018 08:46:39
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Replying To 890202: "But sure its really a disgrace that probably more than half of counties in Ireland couldnt give a toss about hurling and focus on football. There is no comparison. Even hurling played badly is more entertaining than football played well.
Hurling is probably seen as a nuisance in the likes of Fermanagh, Cavan, Tyrone, Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Louth, Longford.
Its amazing really how its only a few counties take it seriously in terms of club scene.
As liam Griffin once said "if coca cola can market and sell coloured gripe water then surely we can promote hurling in Longford"" It's a nuisance in Meath too
southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 891 - 31/07/2018 09:54:32
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Replying To Damothedub: "The small man bit can be taken two ways , your interpretation is one ,I've allways viewed it differently , hurling folk of which I'm not , when they state it's the greatest game in the world which they do a lot , it's because they actually believe it , they are a different breed , I've rarely heard football people speak with the same passion for the game , not to be confused with passion for the county team ,over the years looking at HS what unites people is Not the love of football , more the opportunity to bitch moan and engage in one upmanship, I love both sports and would attend equally , I have never played hurling and only attended my first game about 15 years ago so I'd consider my opinion to be fairly observant as opposed to made out of blind loyalty , this year has been a vintage year for hurling , and bar the last weekend of football were we got some great games by and large not the greatest football year" Exactly!
Is it not a bit petty to be offended or annoyed about people loving their sport and trying to encourage as many people as possible to have a look and see what they think?
I seen a bit of this over the weekend and since and it kind of stinks a little bit of begrudgery for me.
If you dont enjoy hurling fair enough but why get annoyed by those who do?
Each to their own it seems but dont be telling me how much you enjoy a sport!!!
Ive played both football and hurling, actually played more football at a higher level than i ever did hurling but as a spectator sport ive always preferred the entertainment value of hurling and like the original poster was referring to theres actually nothing like hurling a ball off a wall as a method of destressing.
Id love for the GAA to give every kid in the country in every GAA club a hurl not becuase im trying to ram it down peoples throats but its part of our heritage, part of our history, something to be proud of whether ye like it or not.
tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1353 - 31/07/2018 10:08:40
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Replying To cavanman47: "Have never played a hurling match in my life and the majority of my mates would be the same.
Unfortunately, it was never an option growing up.
Often held a hurl, plenty of puck abouts, etc. But just never had a real opportunity to master the basic skills of the game growing up.
I'm a huge fan of the game, have been to 100s of matches including a few all irelands.
But I don't necessarily buy into the notion that it's a better game than football - they are entirely different and I think football is actually ahead in terms of tactics (for better or worse) and when attending games as a neutral, the tactical set up of teams is one of the most intriguing aspects of any game, something you don't get a handle on when watching on tv." I agree with all of this, it's like I wrote it myself!
Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12125 - 31/07/2018 10:16:57
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Replying To PoolSturgeon: "I attended the Meagher/Rackard/Ring finals a couple of years ago. Donegal played in one of the finals (think it might have been the Rackard) and they won it. On accepting the trophy the Donegal captain that day gave the most rousing and passionate speech. I would say it was one of the greatest speeches every given by a winning captain in Croke Park. He created such a stir that he was pictured in the front of all the national dailies the next morning. It was a pity so few of his county men heard the speech or were there for the victory but I came away thinking if this man's passion for the game could be bottled there would be a bright future for hurling in Donegal." Hurling is definitely on the up in Donegal. There used to be only 2 senior clubs in the 90's but now there are 6 or 7. Many other clubs have underage hurling. I think this probably ties in with the general increase in popularity of the GAA in the county in the last 30 years or so, in North Donegal & inishown especially which were always strong soccer areas, but now GAA clubs are thriving there.
Much of Donegal's recent success in Hurling was helped by a few imports from hurling counties. Lads who now live in Donegal for work. But if they are raising the standard and profile of the game it has to be a good thing.
I'm also a bit tired of this 'greatest game in the world' craic after every good game. The documentary on RTE last night was also over the top. Until the hurling counties of Ireland come together within the GAA to drive promotion of hurling in non-hurling counties then nothing much will change. I'm not sure there is any great push on from them to do that... so you can't blame non-hurling counties for not sharing the same love for the game.
himachechy (Donegal) - Posts: 293 - 31/07/2018 10:50:20
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Football is my game and nothing beats watching Mayo at any level but I think hurling is the greatest sport in the world. But not far ahead of football if there's two teams playing to go out and win a game. The interest in hurling was rejuvenated by Ger Loughnane and his mighty Clare team. Finally hot to see them in '99. That's just my opinion. Some think surfing is the greatest sport in the world and it's beautiful, can see their point, but I was brought to McHale Park as a lad not Strandhill.
There are more defensive tactics emerging in hurling but at intercounty level most teams play to win rather than trying to stop the opposition scoring, a fear of losing. Hurling analysis is more positive than football analysis because they analyse more positive play. Some will say that some hurling is naive, not streetwise enough compared to hurling. But that fearlessness is what makes it great. But I know little enough about hurling to know if hurling isn't two teams playing to as tight a gameplan as much as football seems to be. To me hurling has more off the cuff moments of brilliance right now.
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7373 - 31/07/2018 11:20:13
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Replying To Whammo86: "I think the powers that be in hurling don't do very much to bring weaker counties into the fold.
A lot has been done over the years to protect the top teams place in the game, reformatting leagues on a whim to accommodate a relegated team deemed too good to go down.
These sorts of things send a bad message.
The 2 groups of 5 introduced this season is similarly exclusionary of emerging teams.
A 1 off preliminarily quarterfinal against a team that's played a Provincial league campaign is playing lip service to the development of the game." I think the biggest problem in spreading the game is resistance from county boards. You can run all the tournament's and coaching seminars you want but if the respective county boards aren't on board then it's a struggle before it begins. I had a look at a few of the northern counties websites before posting and it told it's own story. Hurling fixtures/competitions were not listed in their competitions section. I know they exist but do not merit listing by their county boards.
The next problem is a lack of merit based competition. Many counties only have a few hurling clubs and one normally dominates competition. There is no regular program of games over a season. Games are sporadic and often uncompetitive as teams of senior , intermediate and junior standards are heaped into the one competition due to a lack of clubs.
Then you have the intercounty thing. Because there are so few clubs the intercounty team hinders club development as they lose so many players to county teams that whatever games there are for hurling cannot be played due to lack of numbers.
Finally in an effort to overcome the lack of games croke park set up regional leagues such as the Tain league and some clubs apply to play in neighbouring stronger counties leagues. This brings me back to point one as county boards don't recognise these competitions and fix football league games to clash with these fixtures. As most players are dual and football is the dominant game in those counties and loyalty is to your own county competition the hurling games get postponed or conceded.
This is the reality of promoting hurling in football country.
Tadhgmacda (Limerick) - Posts: 99 - 31/07/2018 11:34:58
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Of the two games at the weekend I thought the Limerick-Cork game was much more open and enjoyable to watch.In Saturdays game there was a lot of swarm tackling similar to football which is really unattractive in Hurling.
gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1060 - 31/07/2018 11:43:03
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My Brother and I were 2 of maybe 4 people in our town to even have a hurl. About 20 years later the local club launched a hurling team and I played 3 seasons. Loved every second of it, in spite of some pretty heavy defeats.
I'm one of these people that think it's the greatest sport on Earth and I'm glad I had a chance to play for my own club. If it was up to me, all boys and girls would get the chance to try it at their clubs or school (including those of non-nationalist upbringing).
I love football too and still go to watch the club and county now and again...But, all footballers know, deep down in their hearts, hurling is the better sport of the two.
There's more skills to enjoy and it's simply more fun to play - especially as someone else said, just striking it off a wall on your own.
Suas Sios (None) - Posts: 1550 - 31/07/2018 11:53:56
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Hurling isnt for me, said it before.
There is no method to hurling. I prefer to watch a game where you see teams try to figure out how to break a defence down for example, Like gaelic football and soccer. A game where you have to work a score rather than just blasting a ball from 110 yards over a bar. Its a lot of hit and hope stuff in my opinion.
Is it skilful ? Well yes, it is.
But then, give a hurler a snooker cue and he wont hit century breaks straight away. Give a hurler a set of darts and he wont be hitting 180s for fun straight away. Every single sport has its own admirable skills. Personally, I think id hit a sliotar over the bar from 65 70 mtrs in Croke Park with nobody tackling me, quicker and more regularly than id hit a 180 at the ally pally in the darts with thousands of people behind me watching or a century break on full size snooker table
My point is, This "most skilful game in the world" that people just throw out is something i simply dont agree with. If you practice and play hurling from a young age and youre good enough to play intercounty in all ireland semi finals, it should be expected that, you can do all the basics, and make them look straightforward like scoring from distance, like unreal fielding, like sideline cuts, like running through tackles while balancing the sliotar on your hurl. Its not *that* skillful
Is hurling the fastest, most hectic game in the world, Id say it probably is. Doesnt make it most skilful or definitively the greatest sport there has ever been.
The above is simply my opinion and i think other GAA people would have a similar opinion, Football for me is the better of the two. For some, just watching a fast headless chicken like sport is entertaining, for others, like me, i just prefer to go into a game knowing there are more than 1 way of playing the game, Its not just gonna be a you shoot from miles, then ill shoot from miles, 1 shot every 45sec-min type of game, Id rather stand watching a team clearly try to figure out how to beat a blanket defence. Or id prefer to see a high scoring kicking game like Kildare v Galway, Monaghan v Kerry etc.
The lack of hurling numbers on HS tells alot too. Its the inferior supported of the two codes.
waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 31/07/2018 11:56:53
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Replying To waynoI: "Hurling isnt for me, said it before.
There is no method to hurling. I prefer to watch a game where you see teams try to figure out how to break a defence down for example, Like gaelic football and soccer. A game where you have to work a score rather than just blasting a ball from 110 yards over a bar. Its a lot of hit and hope stuff in my opinion.
Is it skilful ? Well yes, it is.
But then, give a hurler a snooker cue and he wont hit century breaks straight away. Give a hurler a set of darts and he wont be hitting 180s for fun straight away. Every single sport has its own admirable skills. Personally, I think id hit a sliotar over the bar from 65 70 mtrs in Croke Park with nobody tackling me, quicker and more regularly than id hit a 180 at the ally pally in the darts with thousands of people behind me watching or a century break on full size snooker table
My point is, This "most skilful game in the world" that people just throw out is something i simply dont agree with. If you practice and play hurling from a young age and youre good enough to play intercounty in all ireland semi finals, it should be expected that, you can do all the basics, and make them look straightforward like scoring from distance, like unreal fielding, like sideline cuts, like running through tackles while balancing the sliotar on your hurl. Its not *that* skillful
Is hurling the fastest, most hectic game in the world, Id say it probably is. Doesnt make it most skilful or definitively the greatest sport there has ever been.
The above is simply my opinion and i think other GAA people would have a similar opinion, Football for me is the better of the two. For some, just watching a fast headless chicken like sport is entertaining, for others, like me, i just prefer to go into a game knowing there are more than 1 way of playing the game, Its not just gonna be a you shoot from miles, then ill shoot from miles, 1 shot every 45sec-min type of game, Id rather stand watching a team clearly try to figure out how to beat a blanket defence. Or id prefer to see a high scoring kicking game like Kildare v Galway, Monaghan v Kerry etc.
The lack of hurling numbers on HS tells alot too. Its the inferior supported of the two codes." Or maybe hurling people have less to bitch and moan about.
Tadhgmacda (Limerick) - Posts: 99 - 31/07/2018 12:07:36
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Replying To royaldunne: "Got to say I'm totally in agreement with you , it's a sport that's of little interest to me, the hype around the two games at weekend did little for me, I tuned in and out of both and found them not that interesting tbh. (Probably going to be shot for that ) but it's just not my thing, whereas last week I was glued to every second of every game. I've held a hurl and what I thought was jasus that would make great kindling. But each to their own. Once you enjoy sport in one way or another then fair play, but the constant you have to like hurling from hurling people gets tiresome, many people couldn't care less about it. Give me a bad football match between two junior b teams any day over any game of hurling." About a year ago I was talking to a former Meath footballer (from North Meath) who is now living and working in Munster and still young enough to play club football, Hurling is the dominant sport in the club and he has played with their second team. Now he regrets that he was not exposed to hurling at a young age as he feels that he could better integrate into his new club and feels that all clubs should try and accommodate both codes, whither by participation or amalgamating with other clubs locally to give the youth exposure to the weaker code.
MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1066 - 31/07/2018 12:18:43
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Always surprises me to hear people say there are no tactics in hurling. There is a bigger difference in how a team like Galway played on Saturday and Cork played on Sunday than there is between any of the top football sides at the minute. Even the difference in size of the Galway forward line compared to the Cork forward line is greater I'd say than between any 2 sets of starting forwards in intercounty football.
Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 31/07/2018 12:39:46
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Replying To Soma: "Always surprises me to hear people say there are no tactics in hurling. There is a bigger difference in how a team like Galway played on Saturday and Cork played on Sunday than there is between any of the top football sides at the minute. Even the difference in size of the Galway forward line compared to the Cork forward line is greater I'd say than between any 2 sets of starting forwards in intercounty football." No hurling club near me growing up so never played it as a kid, but had relatives in Tipp who gave us some hurls so we used puck about in the garden. When I moved to London joined a dual club, hurlers were often stuck so I got stuck in corner forward to make up the number. Due to being young and fit and having a basic grasp of the skills I often got but on a quick lad on the opposition out the field. Problem was having no idea how to protect myself properly I used get a good few whacks of hurleys that lads who grew up playing as kids knew how to avoid. Would have loved to have played properly as a kid.
Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 31/07/2018 12:50:28
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Well one obvious example of top hurling games giving value for money would be the final 5 to 10 minutes of games.
This is not a go at Dublin, (Monaghan attempted against Kerry etc) but running down the clock. how exciting after paying for tickets, travelling most of the day to end up with that cr*p.
Most of the big hurling games couldn't be called in injury time this year. You won't get away with flicking the ball around the back to run down the clock.
And for those who are upset about hurling being labelled the greatest game on earth what about the football promoting? The 'Super' 8s are about as super as Super Gran. We've had too decent games, Monaghan v Kerry and Galway v Kildare but neither in anyway compared with the top 5 hurling games. Dublin are the only truly class team out there.
A bad boring football championship. Some poster said gaelic football had far better tactics.. never confuse tactics with skill. Yes Fermanagh and Carlow have 'great' tactics, park the bus, but they are boring to watch and have few outstanding players. My own county Laois are no better. The 3 of those counties were in provincial finals. Says it all. Fermanagh ended up beating Monaghan with a long hopefull ball, not their brilliant tactics. Clare's last equaliser against Galway shaoed much more tactical awareness of how to create space.
BliainanÁir (Laois) - Posts: 598 - 31/07/2018 12:57:07
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Replying To Soma: "Always surprises me to hear people say there are no tactics in hurling. There is a bigger difference in how a team like Galway played on Saturday and Cork played on Sunday than there is between any of the top football sides at the minute. Even the difference in size of the Galway forward line compared to the Cork forward line is greater I'd say than between any 2 sets of starting forwards in intercounty football." Anybody who watched the games at the weekend would see how the teams set out differently , the Dublin minor team were beaten by both a superior team and a tactically better aware team , Kilkenny have never played a sweeper , Waterford Clare introduced the sweeper , the Cork team of Sean Og ran with the ball in hand like no team before them , one of the things in society is the idea that everyone is entitled to their opinion which is correct, however no one is entitled to be wrong about the facts , I'm sure there's tactics in rugby and cricket I'm just not educated enough on the sport to know or see them , just because I can't see them Does not mean they are not there
Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 31/07/2018 13:03:26
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Replying To Rosineri1: "No hurling club near me growing up so never played it as a kid, but had relatives in Tipp who gave us some hurls so we used puck about in the garden. When I moved to London joined a dual club, hurlers were often stuck so I got stuck in corner forward to make up the number. Due to being young and fit and having a basic grasp of the skills I often got but on a quick lad on the opposition out the field. Problem was having no idea how to protect myself properly I used get a good few whacks of hurleys that lads who grew up playing as kids knew how to avoid. Would have loved to have played properly as a kid." Your own experiences as a kid was really why I started this topic I suppose. You had hurls as a youngster and played with them in the garden though you were never going to be a hurler as there was no club. The hurl probably cost £10, but got you outside exercising and having some fun. I bet there was very few toys you had that gave the same value for money. I'd have thought that every child with any interest in sport in Ireland should at least have a hurl they can pick up if they ever want to just pass a while outside and as others said many find hitting a ball against a wall a great way of relieving stress. To say I didn't have a hurl because there was no hurling club is like saying I had no frisbee because there was no frisbee club.
Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 31/07/2018 13:09:56
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