Editing Hurling (section)

==International==
{{Further|Hurling outside Ireland}}

Although many hurling clubs exist worldwide, only Ireland has a national team (although it includes only players from weaker counties in order to ensure matches are competitive). It and the Scotland [[shinty]] team have played for many years with modified match rules (as with [[International Rules Football]]). The match is the only such international competition. However, competition at club level has been going on around the world since the late nineteenth century thanks to emigration from Ireland, and the strength of the game has ebbed and flowed along with emigration trends. Nowadays, growth in hurling is noted in Continental Europe, Australia, and North America.

===Argentina===
[[File:Hurling players in argentina.jpg|thumb|An early hurling team in Argentina, formed by Irish immigrants, c. 1900]]
Irish immigrants began arriving in [[Argentina]] in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5|page=129|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref> The earliest reference to hurling in Argentina dates from the late 1880s in [[Mercedes, Buenos Aires]]. However, the game was not actively promoted until 1900, when it came to the attention of author and newspaperman [[William Bulfin]]. Under Bulfin's patronage, the [[Hurling Club]] was formed on 15 July 1900, leading to teams being established in different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and the surrounding farming communities.

Games of hurling were played every weekend until 1914 and received frequent coverage from Argentina's Spanish language newspapers, such as ''[[La Nación]]''. After the outbreak of [[World War I]], it became almost impossible to obtain hurleys from Ireland. An attempt was made to use native Argentine mountain ash, but it proved too heavy and lacking in pliability. Although the game was revived after the end of the war, the golden age of Argentine hurling had passed. [[World War II]] finally brought the era to its close.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, immigration from Ireland slowed to a trickle. In addition, native born Irish-Argentines assimilated into the local community. The last time that hurling was played in Argentina was in 1980, when the Aer Lingus Hurling Club conducted a three-week tour of the country and played matches at several locations.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5|pages=129–137|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref> Since 2009, with the realization of several Summers Camps and the visit of the All Stars in December, hurling returned to be a frequent activity at the Hurling Club, where many boys and young men have since been trained and taught to play. The Hurling Club have even been invited to take part in the Hurling Festival within The Gathering events organised by [[Aer Lingus]]. This team was present in September 2013 in the [[Galway|city of Galway]]. The team consists of 21 players from Hockey and Rugby teams. Many have contributed to the return of hurling as an activity in the club. As an example we can name Alejandro Yoyo Wade, Johnny Wade, Barbie, Cecilia and Irene Scally, David Ganly, Dickie Mac Allister, Eduardo Cabrera Punter, Hernan Magrini Scally. Several Irish have participated in many opportunities to work with the skills and education: Jonathan Lynch, Kevin O'Connors and Michael Connery, who currently works with the team's training to participate in the Aer Lingus International Hurling Festival.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0310/globalirish_buenosaires.html|title= The Global Irish – Buenos Aires |date=2010-03-10|work=RTÉ Sport|access-date=2010-03-15}}</ref>

===Australia===
{{Further|Australasia GAA}}
The earliest reference to hurling in Australia is related in the book "Sketches of Garryowen". On 12 July 1844, a match took place at Batman's Hill in [[Melbourne]] as a counterpoint to a march by the [[Orange Order]]. Reportedly, the hurling match attracted a crowd of five hundred Irish immigrants, while the Orange march shivered out of existence.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5|page=139|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref>

Several hurling clubs existed in [[Victoria (state)|Victoria]] in the 1870s including Melbourne, Collingwood, Upper Yarra, Richmond and Geelong.

In 1885, a game between two Sydney-based teams took place before a crowd of over ten thousand spectators. Reportedly, the contest was greatly enjoyed despite the fact that one newspaper dubbed the game "Two Degrees Safer Than War".<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5|pages=139–140|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref>

[[Arden Street Oval]] in [[North Melbourne]] was used by Irish immigrants during the 1920s.
The game in Australasia is administered by [[Australasia GAA]].

===Great Britain===
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2018}}
Hurling was brought to Great Britain in the 19th century. The game is administered by [[British GAA]]. Warwickshire and Lancashire compete at inter-county level in the [[Lory Meagher Cup]], competing against other counties in Ireland. [[London GAA|London]] is the only non-Irish team to have won the [[All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship]] (having captured the title in [[1901 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship|1901]]), and after winning the [[2012 Christy Ring Cup]] gained the right to contest the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2013.

The first ever hurling game played in the Scottish Highlands was played at Easter 2012 between CLG Micheal Breathnach and Fir Uladh, an Ulster select of Gaeiligoiri, as part of the Iomain Cholmcille festival, na Breathnaich coming out victorious.

Wales has its own club, [[Cardiff GAA (St. Colmcilles)|St. Colmcilles]] in Cardiff.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://cardiffgaa.org.uk/| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110813041427/http://cardiffgaa.org.uk/| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2011-08-13| title = St Colmcilles: Cardiff GAA}}</ref>

===South Africa===
Soldiers who served in the [[Irish commandos|Irish Brigade]] during the [[Anglo-Boer War]] are believed to have played the game on the [[veld]]t. Immigrants from [[County Wicklow]] who had arrived to work in the explosives factory in [[Umbogintwini]], [[KwaZulu-Natal]] formed a team c. 1915–16. A major burst of immigration in the 1920s led to the foundation of the ''Transvaal Hurling Association'' in [[Johannesburg]] in 1928. Games were traditionally played in a pitch on the site of the modern-day Johannesburg Central Railway Station every [[Easter Sunday]] after [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]].

In 1932, a South African hurling team sailed to Ireland to compete in the [[Tailteann Games (Irish Free State)|Tailteann Games]], where they carried a banner donated by a convent of Irish nuns in [[Cape Town]]. On their arrival, they were personally received by the [[Taoiseach]] (Prime Minister) at the time, [[Éamon de Valera]].

South African hurling continued to prosper until the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], which caused immigration from Ireland to cease and made it impossible to import equipment. Games of hurling and [[Gaelic football]] were occasionally sponsored by the [[List of Christian Brothers schools|Christian Brothers schools]] in [[Boksburg]] and [[Pretoria]] well into the 1950s. Both games have all but ceased to be played.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5|pages=147–151|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref>

===North America===
{{Further|Canadian GAA|New York GAA|North American GAA}}
[[File:Enda Kenny presents Barack Obama with a hurley.jpg|thumb|U.S. president [[Barack Obama]] accepting a [[Hurley (stick)|hurley]] from [[Taoiseach]] [[Enda Kenny]]]]
References to hurling on the North American continent date from the 1780s in modern-day Canada concerning immigrants from [[County Waterford]] and [[County Kilkenny]],<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5 |page=85|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref> and also, in New York City. After the end of the [[American Revolution]], references to hurling cease in American newspapers until the aftermath of the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] when Irish people moved to America in huge numbers, bringing the game with them.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5|pages=97–98|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref> Newspaper reports from the 1850s refer to occasional matches played in San Francisco, [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]] and New York City. The first game of hurling played under GAA rules outside Ireland was played on [[Boston Common (park)|Boston Common]] in June 1886.

In 1888, there was an American tour by fifty Gaelic athletes from Ireland, known as the 'American Invasion'. This created enough interest among [[Irish Americans]] to lay the groundwork for the [[North American GAA]]. By the end of 1889, almost a dozen GAA clubs existed in America, many of them in and around New York City, [[Philadelphia]] and Chicago. Later, clubs were formed in Boston, [[Cleveland]], and many other centers of Irish America. [[Concord, New Hampshire]] has its state's only hurling team, New Hampshire Wolves, sponsored by Litherman's Limited Craft Brewery.

In 1910, twenty-two hurlers, composed of an equal number from Chicago and New York, conducted a tour of Ireland, where they played against the County teams from Kilkenny, [[County Tipperary|Tipperary]], [[County Limerick|Limerick]], [[County Dublin|Dublin]] and [[County Wexford|Wexford]].Traditionally, hurling was a game played by Irish immigrants and discarded by their children. Many American hurling teams took to raising money to import players directly from Ireland. In recent years, this has changed considerably with the advent of the Internet and increased travel. The [[Barley House Wolves]] hurling team from New Hampshire was formed when U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq saw a hurling game on the television in [[Shannon Airport]] as their plane refuelled.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Du Pont|first1=Kevin Paul|title=Captivated by Irish hurling; US soldiers brought it home|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/05/23/stop-ireland-soldiers-created-hurling-team/E8r5DqjOHOfLyVNV3ghNbO/story.html|website=Boston Globe|access-date=19 June 2015}}</ref> Outside of the traditional North American GAA cities of New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, clubs are springing up in other places where they consist of predominantly American-born players who bring a new dimension to the game and actively seek to promote it as a mainstream sport, especially Joe Maher, a leading expert at the sport in [[Boston]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Seamus J.|last=King|title=The Clash of the Ash in Foreign Fields: Hurling Abroad|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533513-0-5|pages=85–127|publisher=S.J. King }}</ref> The [[Milwaukee Hurling Club]], with 300 members, is the largest Hurling club in the world outside Ireland,{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} and is made of mostly Americans and very few Irish immigrants. The St. Louis Gaelic Athletic Club was established in 2002 and has expanded its organization to an eight team hurling league in the spring and six team [[Gaelic football]] league in the fall. They also have a 30-member camogie league. Saint Louis has won two National Championships in Jr C Hurling (2004 and 2011), as well as two National Championships in Jr D Gaelic Football (2005, and 2013). The Indianapolis Hurling Club began in 2002, then reformed in 2005. In 2008, the Indy Hurling Club won the Junior C National Championship. In 2011, Indy had 7 club teams and sent a Junior B, Junior C and Camogie team to nationals. Hurling continues to grow in popularity with teams now in [[Knoxville, TN]], [[Charleston, SC]], [[Orlando, FL]], [[Tampa, FL]], [[Augusta, GA]], [[Greenville, SC]], [[Indianapolis, IN]], [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester, MA]], [[Corvallis, OR]], [[Akron, OH]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://akronhurling.com/|title=Akron Celtic Guards|website=Akron Celtic Guards}}</ref> [[Raleigh, NC]], [[Concord, NH]], [[Portland, Maine]], [[Providence, RI]], [[Twin Cities, MN]], [[Madison, WI]], [[Milwaukee, WI]],<ref>{{cite web| url = https://hurling.net/| title = Milwaukee Hurling Club – Celebrating 25 years and counting}}</ref> [[Washington, DC]], [[Hampton Roads, VA]], [[Rochester NY]], [[Nashville, TN]], [[Richmond, VA]], [[Hartford, CT]], [[Missoula, MT]], [[Butte, MT]] and [[Seattle, WA]].

The GAA have also begun to invest in American college students with university teams springing up at [[University of Connecticut]], [[Stanford University]], [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]], [[Purdue University]], [[Indiana University]], [[University of Montana]] and other schools. On 31 January 2009, the first ever US collegiate hurling match was held between UC Berkeley and Stanford University, organized by the newly formed California Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association. UC Berkeley won the challenge match by one point, while Stanford won the next two CCGAA matches to win the first collegiate cup competition in the U.S.<ref>{{Citation|title=Northern California College Hurling Final 2009| date=3 June 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngT99oihLNo| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/ngT99oihLNo| archive-date=2021-10-30|language=en|access-date=2019-08-22}}{{cbignore}}</ref> On Memorial Day Weekend of 2011, the first ever National Collegiate GAA championship was played. The Indiana University Hurling Club won all matches of the tournament, and won by four points in the championship final to be crowned the first ever [[National U.S. Collegiate Hurling Champions|U.S. National Collegiate Champions]].

===Olympic Games===
Hurling was an [[Hurling at the 1904 Summer Olympics|demonstration sport]] at the [[1904 Summer Olympics]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]], in the United States. A single match was played between two American clubs, Innisfails from St. Louis and Fenians from Chicago. Innisfails won 2-2 to 0-2.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Olympedia – Hurling, Men |url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/926072 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=www.olympedia.org}}</ref>