The History of Hurling

The origins of hurling date back to pre-Christian times. It plays a large role in Irish and Celtic mythology. Hurling has been the national sport of Ireland since the late 1800's, and is considered to be one of the oldest sports in the world.
Hurling is a fairly rough sport. This being the case, however, injuries are not as common as one may believe. This is due to the honorable play and sportsmanship of the game. Hurling, in Ireland as well as in all other areas of the globe where it is played, is a completely amatuer sport. There are no salaries, transfer markets or trading. A player plays for the city and county in which they were born or reside. So, players play for pride and love of the game. Referees, rules and the opposing side are respected but not at the expense of the quality of play.

Positions

The diagram below shows all of the positions on the pitch for one side. As you can see, each team generally has 15 players. Sometimes positions are dropped or rearranged to accomodate for shorter numbers.