Seeing Joe Canning or TJ Reid in Croke Park has been rated among the top ten global sports events

The greatest game in the world

Every country thinks that their indigenous sport is the best. Americans rave about baseball or NFL while England is obsessed with football and cricket. And here we're no different as we think that hurling, and to a lesser extent Gaelic Football, are the best things since the man who invented the bread knife. But it seems that maybe we're not so far off the mark after Lonely Planet rated hurling in Croke Park as one of the top ten best sporting experiences in their 'Where and How To Watch Sport Like A Local' guide. The travel bible, which is almost as famous as Henry Shefflin in these parts, has described a game in GAA HQ as

"Hurling — a fast-moving, physically demanding game — is best watched in the national stadium, with the semi-finals and final of the All-Ireland hurling championships played here in August and September. “Make sure you fit in by learning the local terminology: hurley for the wooden stick the players use to hit the sliotar, the baseball-like ball which is thwacked towards the opponents’ goal"

Ireland is unique in that it is the only country in the Europe that has made the top ten and hurling is listed among such experiences as watching the  New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden or watching Carlos Tevez at La Bombonera with Boca Juniors which is rated as the number one. Croker Park has previously been rated among the top ten stadia in the world while National Geographic have also said that an All-Ireland final is the experience of a lifetime. The top ten is :

Football at La Bombonera, Buenos Aires

Sumo wrestling at Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo

Cricket at Eden Gardens, Kolkata

AFL at the MCG, Melbourne

Ice hockey at Rogers Arena, Vancouver

Baseball at Fenway Park, Boston

Basketball at Madison Square Garden, New York

Hurling at Croke Park, Dublin

NFL at Sun Life Stadium, Miami

Rugby Union at Newlands, Cape Town

H/t Irish Examiner