Eimear Ryan: Resistance to change is natural but would we be crankier if hurling wasn't evolving?
A view of the final scoreboard after Galway's 4-28 to 3-23 win over Waterford. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
In his 1961 short story Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut presents a dystopian sci-fi world in which the notion of equality has been taken to the extreme. Beautiful people are required to wear masks to hide their faces; intelligent people have disruptive signals installed in their brains; athletes must carry weights to counteract their strength. The title character is handsome, smart and strong, so he has to contend with all three.
The politics in this story are a bit more complex than they first appear. Once Harrison is liberated, he immediately declares himself king, becoming a bit of a tyrant in the process. It’s also a much funnier story than most dystopian fiction has a right to be. But when people start giving out about the way hurling has gone — scores too frequent, lads too fit — that was the first thing I thought of: Harrison Bergeron.
