Editing Hurling (section)

===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]].