Hurling is in danger of losing its magic due to overuse of the hand

The future of the unique art of hurling is at risk. As supporters of our sport, we urgently need to ignite the debate.

In 1996, as a member of the Cork County Coaching & Development Committee, I presented a paper, ‘Cork Underage Structures’, with a brief history of the previous 50 years, to a seminar on the future of Cork hurling in UCC. While researching the evolution of games over 2,000 to 4,000 years I came to the conclusion that we started with two field games known as ‘footies’ and ‘stickaball’.

Once again, hurling lovers are concerned about the state of hurling. We come to the inescapable conclusion that in the context of GAA games we also have two games, whereby the hand is the dominant instrument of play rather than the hurley in the case of hurling:

1. One ‘Hurling/Hand/Stickaball’ and the other is ‘Gaelic/Hand/Footie’. The concession we make when playing shinty teams by eliminating the hand brings increased fluidity to our ancient game and revitalises hurling skills, eg killing the sliothar with our hurley and delivery without handling.

2. Hitting from hurley instead of hand.

3. Doubling on sliothar.

4. Eliminating unseemly ‘rucks’ involving up to eight players.

Hurling has become a game of set pieces interspersed with sessions of handball and rucks and frees producing most scores.

My brother Jim Coughlan and I (a former Cork county hurler) have attended and studied eight County Championship games (Senior and Intermediate) and watched Ireland v Scotland playing shinty/compromise hurling over the past five weeks. We believe, as do many former inter-county hurlers, that our ancient game is in danger of losing many of the unique skills that made our game one of the fastest field games in the world.

It is therefore incumbent on our association to address these issues in hurling now. Otherwise the skills displayed by Jimmy Barry Murphy and John Fenton when they gave us goals of the century will never again be replicated.

Perhaps we have forgotten one of the greatest coaching mantras — ‘Let the ball do the work’.

May the debate begin!

Roger Coughlan

Model Farm Rd

Cork

Jim Coughlan

Shanakiel

Cork