‘If you didn’t grow up playing hurling, you can’t play it.’
Dave McKenna is more clued in than most Americans when it comes to Gaelic Games.
The Deadspin staff writer has Irish blood in his veins and his father was a keen fan of both hurling and football, instilling that passion into his family. He recalls his mother relating what happened when she asked her own father for an explanation on hurling as they were on their way to see some ex-pats play a game.
“Hurling is hurling,” he replied.
Hurling is hurling and it is a sport than entranced McKenna on his trip to Ireland, last month. In an article entitled ‘An All-Ireland Championship Preview For The Blissfully Ignorant’, he tries to explain hurling to the American audience before raving about is trip to Croke Park to see Cork taking on Waterford.
First up, the explanation:
‘And though I couldn’t tell exactly what the hell was going on, it seemed a combination of lacrosse and Kill the Guy With the Ball, and I was immediately thrilled by the nonstop action and awesome violence…
‘Hurling is a game where two teams of 15 players with helmets but no other padding and wielding short, stubby hockey sticks (hurleys) scramble around a huge rectangular field (the Croke Park pitch is 144.5m x 88m, or about 5,200 square yards bigger than an American football field) for two 35-minute running-clock halves trying to hit a leather ball a bit smaller than a baseball (sliotar) either into the opponent’s net (3 points) or between the crossbars of the opponent’s goal (1 point) while avoiding getting smashed.
‘But getting smashed is most of hurling, in no small part because there’s only one referee in charge of the massive field and all those scrambling, stick-swinging bodies.’
After missing out on tickets for the 2003 All-Ireland hurling final on a previous trip to Dublin, McKenna planned well ahead and was at Croker to see Waterford beat Cork to reach this year’s final.
The game definitely left an impression on him. He writes:
‘Watching with my family and 72,000 fans who screamed from the pre-game players parade until the final whistle, Waterford’s win over Cork thrilled me as much as any sporting event I’d ever attended.’
Back home, McKenna has been calling around the bars in his Washington D.C neighbourhood to enquire if any are showing Sunday’s final.
We’ve got another convert.
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