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Replying To Doylerwex: " Replying To CastleBravo: "I agree with this, the "<i>hurling needs to be promoted</i>" line always seems to boil down to 2 arguments;
1. That 10s of thousands of people in non-hurling counties would actually dearly love to play and support hurling but as soon as anyone in these counties gets onto their club or county board they forget what hurling is and repress it instead. Why this grá for hurling is invisible is a strange one to make sense of.
2. The Liam Griffin theory that hurling isn't popular in these counties because their populations are just too thick to realise it's the greatest game on earth. The idea that large numbers of people know exactly what hurling is but have little interest in playing it is simply unthinkable- it's obviously just incompetence by the GAA to sell it to them."</div>I'm a big fan of Griffin. I cannot comprehend how anybody could not love hurling. It is far beyond sport.
Comparing hurling to sport is like comparing the Atlantic Ocean to a pothole after it rains." Grifffin also spoke of how theres a tendency in Ireland to view indigenous culture as backwards and to see outside cultures as trendy and superior and i think theres something in that. Maybe struggling to shake off the colonial mindset. Case in point the friendly game between leeds and utd being sold out in croker. Ive always personally believed that if hurling were a british sport more people here would be interested in it. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it though.
Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 306 - 12/08/2026 18:53:19
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It's really really strange in Croke park tonight lads.....
Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4648 - 12/08/2026 20:21:55
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Replying To Viking66: "Alot of our teams would be delighted to have 16!" Maybe for ordinary games during the summer when some are away on holiday, or if you're a small club with low numbers. But for the National Féile, where anyone with an interest at all would be raring to go??? Struggling to have a team and just one sub??
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3917 - 13/08/2026 00:55:23
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Hurling a good sport, much better than it was in say the 1980s but possibly stagnated a little bit in last 10 years.
Years ago long range points were a novelty but just too many long range points now.
Some of the scores now seem like set plays from the puck outs, pick out a player on puck out, short pass and then long range points. May be better if we did something with hurl or sliotar to make harder to score long range (look at modern hurls compared to hurls of past, much easier to hit further)
AAlso Munster championship is great competition but current arrangement means the overall championship is completely lob sided (best games early on in Munster, then few games thereafter, in total contrast to current football format which has great finish to it.
GreenMan1987 (Meath) - Posts: 143 - 13/08/2026 09:15:58
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Replying To GreenMan1987: "Hurling a good sport, much better than it was in say the 1980s but possibly stagnated a little bit in last 10 years.
Years ago long range points were a novelty but just too many long range points now.
Some of the scores now seem like set plays from the puck outs, pick out a player on puck out, short pass and then long range points. May be better if we did something with hurl or sliotar to make harder to score long range (look at modern hurls compared to hurls of past, much easier to hit further)
AAlso Munster championship is great competition but current arrangement means the overall championship is completely lob sided (best games early on in Munster, then few games thereafter, in total contrast to current football format which has great finish to it." I will start at the end of your post. KK are in a rebuild stage. Semi finals prior to that were always hotly contested. They will ne back and possibly next year. Galway will learn from this season and be better too. Id expect far more competitive semi finals next season. The quarter finals will be interesting too. Especially if they bring 4th from Munster into it.
On the long range scores. Why are you and other people( predominantly from football counties) so against them? Surely more scores is better than less? Thats how i and many see it anyway. The 2 pointer has revolutionised GF. The increase in 2 point scores in one season is remarkable. They are becoming very common. Do you want to abolish them?
There is very little wrong with hurling. Its not perfect but its in a good place game wise. Some big teams are in transition. That happens. It will resolve itself that way. A few tweaks to rules will help the game be even better.
Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 761 - 13/08/2026 10:56:45
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Replying To Tadhg2020: "I will start at the end of your post. KK are in a rebuild stage. Semi finals prior to that were always hotly contested. They will ne back and possibly next year. Galway will learn from this season and be better too. Id expect far more competitive semi finals next season. The quarter finals will be interesting too. Especially if they bring 4th from Munster into it.
On the long range scores. Why are you and other people( predominantly from football counties) so against them? Surely more scores is better than less? Thats how i and many see it anyway. The 2 pointer has revolutionised GF. The increase in 2 point scores in one season is remarkable. They are becoming very common. Do you want to abolish them?
There is very little wrong with hurling. Its not perfect but its in a good place game wise. Some big teams are in transition. That happens. It will resolve itself that way. A few tweaks to rules will help the game be even better." Regarding the current format.
The teams that come out of Munster are flying after playing in a very competitive RR.
The Leinster championship can never be that competitive, the teams that come out of the weaker Leinster championship RR will never have the same level of preparation before the All Ireland series so will.always be in a worse position when it comes to the all Ireland series. I think this also
For me more of
As regards long range points,
Football had completely different issues to hurling, we needed more long range efforts in football rather (also in fairness football had much bigger issues)
Hurling has increased long range points but related to this sometimes we have lost a bit of getting the ball up the field and letting opposition players fight to get the ball.
My favourite hurling matchs were some of the Kilkenny Tipperary finals of the Coady era.
Back then hurling was a bit more direct, hit the ball upfield and let men fight for the ball a bit more.
GreenMan1987 (Meath) - Posts: 143 - 13/08/2026 17:22:03
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Replying To Pikeman96: "Maybe for ordinary games during the summer when some are away on holiday, or if you're a small club with low numbers. But for the National Féile, where anyone with an interest at all would be raring to go??? Struggling to have a team and just one sub??" We couldnt field a team at all for it last year. We would have needed to start several u12s for it, and our u12s were mostly tiny for their age, though they are starting to stretch a little now.
More than 1 or 2 clubs didnt. Scheduling our county Feile for Easter weekend was part of the problem, as many families go on a holiday or a break that weekend, but overall numbers are the main problem.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20557 - 14/08/2026 07:28:50
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Replying To Tadhg2020: "I will start at the end of your post. KK are in a rebuild stage. Semi finals prior to that were always hotly contested. They will ne back and possibly next year. Galway will learn from this season and be better too. Id expect far more competitive semi finals next season. The quarter finals will be interesting too. Especially if they bring 4th from Munster into it.
On the long range scores. Why are you and other people( predominantly from football counties) so against them? Surely more scores is better than less? Thats how i and many see it anyway. The 2 pointer has revolutionised GF. The increase in 2 point scores in one season is remarkable. They are becoming very common. Do you want to abolish them?
There is very little wrong with hurling. Its not perfect but its in a good place game wise. Some big teams are in transition. That happens. It will resolve itself that way. A few tweaks to rules will help the game be even better." 1st and 2nd in Munster beat 3rd in Munster by an aggregate of 31 points.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20557 - 14/08/2026 07:41:21
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Replying To Tadhg2020: "I will start at the end of your post. KK are in a rebuild stage. Semi finals prior to that were always hotly contested. They will ne back and possibly next year. Galway will learn from this season and be better too. Id expect far more competitive semi finals next season. The quarter finals will be interesting too. Especially if they bring 4th from Munster into it.
On the long range scores. Why are you and other people( predominantly from football counties) so against them? Surely more scores is better than less? Thats how i and many see it anyway. The 2 pointer has revolutionised GF. The increase in 2 point scores in one season is remarkable. They are becoming very common. Do you want to abolish them?
There is very little wrong with hurling. Its not perfect but its in a good place game wise. Some big teams are in transition. That happens. It will resolve itself that way. A few tweaks to rules will help the game be even better." This years Munster Hurling Championship-
The winning teams in round 3 of the Munster Championship won by an aggregate of 19 points in 2 games.
And the winning teams in Round 4 of the Munster Championship won by an aggregate of 20 points in 2 games.
And the winning teams in round 5 of the Munster Championship won by an aggregate of 33 points in 2 games.
I watch a huge amount of Munster Championship games since the 1990s but it wasnt a great Championship this year.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20557 - 14/08/2026 07:48:30
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Replying To Tadhg2020: "I will start at the end of your post. KK are in a rebuild stage. Semi finals prior to that were always hotly contested. They will ne back and possibly next year. Galway will learn from this season and be better too. Id expect far more competitive semi finals next season. The quarter finals will be interesting too. Especially if they bring 4th from Munster into it.
On the long range scores. Why are you and other people( predominantly from football counties) so against them? Surely more scores is better than less? Thats how i and many see it anyway. The 2 pointer has revolutionised GF. The increase in 2 point scores in one season is remarkable. They are becoming very common. Do you want to abolish them?
There is very little wrong with hurling. Its not perfect but its in a good place game wise. Some big teams are in transition. That happens. It will resolve itself that way. A few tweaks to rules will help the game be even better." Hurling is still a great game and doesn't need major surgery like football but taking scores from within your own half of the field, while a great individual skill, is not exciting. Babs Keating was calling for something to be done about that a while back before football people. High scoring is only better if you have more contests. Hurling has lost the clash of the ash. One of the main focuses of the FRC was to get man to man contests back into the game. The 2 pointer has been great but not just high scoring for the sake of scoring. The purpose was to force teams into making a decision, do we sit deep and hope the opposition will not be accurate enough for 2s or do we push out and potentially leave space inside for conceding goals. The knock on effect is no "big lead" is safe either.
FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 582 - 14/08/2026 09:18:52
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how or what is worrying the game has been on its knees for years , the strong get stronger and the weak well they surely dont matter
mickcunningham (Westmeath) - Posts: 2020 - 14/08/2026 09:41:04
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Replying To GreenMan1987: "Regarding the current format.
The teams that come out of Munster are flying after playing in a very competitive RR.
The Leinster championship can never be that competitive, the teams that come out of the weaker Leinster championship RR will never have the same level of preparation before the All Ireland series so will.always be in a worse position when it comes to the all Ireland series. I think this also
For me more of
As regards long range points,
Football had completely different issues to hurling, we needed more long range efforts in football rather (also in fairness football had much bigger issues)
Hurling has increased long range points but related to this sometimes we have lost a bit of getting the ball up the field and letting opposition players fight to get the ball.
My favourite hurling matchs were some of the Kilkenny Tipperary finals of the Coady era.
Back then hurling was a bit more direct, hit the ball upfield and let men fight for the ball a bit more." Cork werent very direct when reaching 5 AI finals between 1999 and 2006, winning 3 of them.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20557 - 14/08/2026 10:51:11
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Replying To Viking66: "We couldnt field a team at all for it last year. We would have needed to start several u12s for it, and our u12s were mostly tiny for their age, though they are starting to stretch a little now.
More than 1 or 2 clubs didnt. Scheduling our county Feile for Easter weekend was part of the problem, as many families go on a holiday or a break that weekend, but overall numbers are the main problem." That's unfortunate for yourselves. But with respect, you're talking about a different thing - the county Feile, rather than the national one.
My point is that if you're the strongest team in your county at that age (even if it's a relatively "weak" county), such that you qualify for national Feile, then surely you'd expect to be able to round up more than 16 players for a weekend away at national Feile if there was genuine goodwill and interest in hurling in your area. You shouldn't have to go battling against vested football interests to round up a team and just one sub.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3917 - 14/08/2026 11:27:16
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Replying To Pikeman96: "That's unfortunate for yourselves. But with respect, you're talking about a different thing - the county Feile, rather than the national one.
My point is that if you're the strongest team in your county at that age (even if it's a relatively "weak" county), such that you qualify for national Feile, then surely you'd expect to be able to round up more than 16 players for a weekend away at national Feile if there was genuine goodwill and interest in hurling in your area. You shouldn't have to go battling against vested football interests to round up a team and just one sub." Ah definitely Pikeman
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20557 - 14/08/2026 12:58:31
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Replying To GreenMan1987: "Regarding the current format.
The teams that come out of Munster are flying after playing in a very competitive RR.
The Leinster championship can never be that competitive, the teams that come out of the weaker Leinster championship RR will never have the same level of preparation before the All Ireland series so will.always be in a worse position when it comes to the all Ireland series. I think this also
For me more of
As regards long range points,
Football had completely different issues to hurling, we needed more long range efforts in football rather (also in fairness football had much bigger issues)
Hurling has increased long range points but related to this sometimes we have lost a bit of getting the ball up the field and letting opposition players fight to get the ball.
My favourite hurling matchs were some of the Kilkenny Tipperary finals of the Coady era.
Back then hurling was a bit more direct, hit the ball upfield and let men fight for the ball a bit more." I wonder if there is a way of using the football arc to address any of your hurling issues? - e.g. get the sliotar upfield - maybe a two-pointer from inside and a five-point goal?
omahant (USA) - Posts: 3531 - 22/08/2026 13:54:38
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Replying To Tadhg2020: "I will start at the end of your post. KK are in a rebuild stage. Semi finals prior to that were always hotly contested. They will ne back and possibly next year. Galway will learn from this season and be better too. Id expect far more competitive semi finals next season. The quarter finals will be interesting too. Especially if they bring 4th from Munster into it.
On the long range scores. Why are you and other people( predominantly from football counties) so against them? Surely more scores is better than less? Thats how i and many see it anyway. The 2 pointer has revolutionised GF. The increase in 2 point scores in one season is remarkable. They are becoming very common. Do you want to abolish them?
There is very little wrong with hurling. Its not perfect but its in a good place game wise. Some big teams are in transition. That happens. It will resolve itself that way. A few tweaks to rules will help the game be even better." I wouldn't say more scores are necessarily better - I'd argue soccer needs more (think six) and hurling less (say, 30).
Basketball needs less (latter is not my cup of tea - scoring frequency turns me off).
World Cup Hockey 2026 has been entertaining (scoring occasionally).
I even prefer test cricket (balance between attack and defence) compared to T20 (smack the ball to the boundary or the stands, every time if you can).
The '99 AI SHC Final comes to mind - Cork grinding out a 0-13 to 0-12 win against KK in the rain - it was gripping stuff - despite being the first without a goal.
omahant (USA) - Posts: 3531 - 22/08/2026 14:14:23
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Replying To FullOfPorter: "Hurling is still a great game and doesn't need major surgery like football but taking scores from within your own half of the field, while a great individual skill, is not exciting. Babs Keating was calling for something to be done about that a while back before football people. High scoring is only better if you have more contests. Hurling has lost the clash of the ash. One of the main focuses of the FRC was to get man to man contests back into the game. The 2 pointer has been great but not just high scoring for the sake of scoring. The purpose was to force teams into making a decision, do we sit deep and hope the opposition will not be accurate enough for 2s or do we push out and potentially leave space inside for conceding goals. The knock on effect is no "big lead" is safe either." The two things in Hurling that really get my goat is (1) a goalkeeper going out the field to his own 45 to take a free out and (2) a forward walking all the way back to his own 65 and beyond to take a free. It slows everything down.
A free inside your own 65 should be an indirect free to be taken by your nearest player.
Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2678 - 22/08/2026 20:17:19
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Replying To Bon: "The two things in Hurling that really get my goat is (1) a goalkeeper going out the field to his own 45 to take a free out and (2) a forward walking all the way back to his own 65 and beyond to take a free. It slows everything down.
A free inside your own 65 should be an indirect free to be taken by your nearest player." By the same token - does it equally get your goat when a football goalkeeper goes all the way up the field to take either a 45 or to have an attempt at a two-pointer free from just outside the arc?
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3917 - 22/08/2026 21:25:53
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Replying To Pikeman96: "By the same token - does it equally get your goat when a football goalkeeper goes all the way up the field to take either a 45 or to have an attempt at a two-pointer free from just outside the arc?" It probably would if I followed football.
Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2678 - 23/08/2026 10:18:51
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Replying To Bon: "The two things in Hurling that really get my goat is (1) a goalkeeper going out the field to his own 45 to take a free out and (2) a forward walking all the way back to his own 65 and beyond to take a free. It slows everything down.
A free inside your own 65 should be an indirect free to be taken by your nearest player." In addition to your indirect frees (like shinty), could the football arc be used for better scoring patterns?
Say, given current day cheap one-pointers from all long distances and angles - maybe two pts from inside the arc and a five-pts goal ?
Maybe a team needs to work some form of inter-zone passing before any score is allowed (three zones, pitch divided into thirds at the 45s) ?
omahant (USA) - Posts: 3531 - 26/08/2026 11:56:03
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