Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Hurling

There are a lot of fast sports on grass but Hurling is the fastest. Here is what it is in a nut shell first you have an axe shaped stick that kinda looks like a lacrosse stick but with no pocket and a ball that's kinda like a baseball (sliotar). Second you have no padding other than a helmet other than that there is nothing else so if you get hit there is no protection. Third you can carry the ball for 3 steps then you either have to bounce it on the ground or carry it on your hurley. Fourth the net is as big as a soccer net with a field goal on top with a goalie that has no padding and a normal sized hurley. Getting the ball into the bottom you get three points and one point for the top.

Tackling: Players may be tackled but not struck by a one handed slash of the stick; exceptions are two handed jabs and strikes. Jersey-pulling, wrestling, pushing and tripping are all forbidden. There are several forms of acceptable tackling, the most popular being:
• The block, where one player attempts to smother an opposing player's strike by trapping the ball between his hurl and the opponent's swinging hurl;
• The hook, where a player approaches another player from a rear angle and attempts to catch the opponent's hurl with his own at the top of the swing; and
• The side pull, where two players running together for the sliotar will collide at the shoulders and swing together to win the tackle and "pull" (name given to swing the hurley) with extreme force.

Although many hurling clubs exist worldwide, only Ireland has a national team (although it includes only players from weaker counties in order to ensure matches are competitive). It and the Scotland shinty team have played for many years with modified match rules (as with International Rules Football). The match is the only such international competition. However, competition at club level has been going on around the world since the late nineteenth century thanks to emigration from Ireland, and the strength of the game has ebbed and flowed along with emigration trends. Nowadays, growth in hurling is noted in Britain, North America, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand and South Africa

Teams: Teams consist of fifteen players The panel is made up of 24-30 players and 5
substitutions are allowed per game

Timekeeping: Senior inter-county matches last 70 minutes (35 minutes per half). All other matches last 60 minutes (30 minutes per half). For age groups of under-13 or lower, games may be shortened to 50 minutes. Timekeeping is at the discretion of the referee who adds on stoppage time at the end of each half. If a knockout game finishes in a draw, a replay is played. If a replay finishes in a draw, 20 minutes extra time is played (10 minutes per half). If the game is still tied, another replay is played. In club competitions, replays are increasingly not used due to the fixture backlogs caused. Instead, extra time is played after a draw, and if the game is still level after that it will go to a replay.

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