Hurling is an Irish team sport that comes from traditional Irish ball games. There is a similar game for women called camogie (camogaiocht). It is considered to be the worlds fastest field sport.
There are verbal historical reference dating back to 1200 B.C when it was played at Tara co Meath. The earliest written references to hurling are found in Brehon law dating from the fifth century Recorded references to hurling appear in many places such as the fourteenth century Statutes of Kilkenny and a fifteenth-century grave slab survives in Inishowen, County Donegal. Hurling was banned in Galway in 1527. Hurling is also recorded as being played by teams representing neighbouring villages. Villages would play games. Such games could involve hundreds of players and could last several hours or days.
Today two teams of 15 players play for 75 minutes using a ball (sliotar) made of a cork core covered by two pieces of leather stitched together on a rectangular pitch which is 130 to 145 metres long and 80 to 90 m wide. At each long end there are two goal posts that are 6 to 7 meters apart and a cross bar at a height of 2.5 meters. When a team gets the ball over the bar (but between the goal posts) they score a point which equals 1 point. If the ball passes under the bar (but between the goal posts) the team gets a goal that counts as 3 points.
Unlike golf the highest scoring team usually wins.
