The story of Cu Chulainn is probably the best known so,unless requested, I will not include it here.
Another reference to hurling in Ireland’s mythology crops up in one of the celebrated stories about Grainne and Diarmaid.Although she was betrothed to Fionn Mac Cumhaill,Grainne fell in love with Diarmaid and a hurling match had a lot to do with it. It is written that she has spoken thus:“ On a day when a hurling match was played on the green of Tara,the seat of the High Kings, between Mac Lu and the Fiann on one side and Cairbre of the Liffey and the men of Tara on the other,I sat high up at the window of my sunny chamber to see the game.You were sitting with some others that day,not intending to take part in the play. But,at last,when the game began to against your friends,I saw you start up and, snatching the hurley from the man nearest to you,you rushed into the thick of the crowd and before sitting down you did goal three times against the men of Tara.At that hour my heart and eyes were turned to you ……….”
The laws laid down in ancient Ireland by the brehons(judges) are known asthe Brehon Laws. They date from the seventh or eighth centuries A.D. i.e.600 - 700 and they touch every aspect of life,from the fosterage of children to the distraining of cattle, from bee-keeping to hurling. What the laws tell us about hurling is :- only officially recognised games of hurling came within the ambit of the law; otherwise it might have been possible to claim that an injury had occurred in a match when it hadn't.
- The four essentials for a valid game were a hurley, a ball, a goal and a field.
- To strike a player a deliberate blow with the hurley was a 'crime' punishable by law.
- To knock down a wall or fence or any portion thereof and not replace it was another breach of the law(this was to protect people's livestock).
Apparently early lawyers made a distinction between three hurling phenomena; a match, a 'puck-around', and specifically dangerous fouls. It would seem the law dealt differently with injuries arising out of the different forms of play. A match was clearly more dangerous than a bout of 'pucking-around' but specific fouls (four named) were most dangerous of all. These four fouls seem to correspond to fouls still known and occasionally practiced in hurling, or known to have been practiced at one time but not now because of alterations in the game.
The first is the sandwich foul, when two or more players jostle and Shoulder one man between them. The second is still with us, the two-way pull or cross-swiping. The third is very much with us today; throwing the hurley, for whatever purpose, among a group of players. The fourth foul is called 'taithe tuilche', which probably means lying on the ball. This might appear a strange practice until you realise that when there is no goal scored in a game, the team that had kept the ball nearest the opponent's goals for most of the game, won it.
A further rule stated that only a man in possession of the ball could Be touched or tackled, and, as he was covered and untouchable and the men over him, who were not in possession of the ball could not be touched, the game ended in stalemate, In such a situation the men on the ground won the match. In case you're unsure what this means - the man in possession is on The ground with his team-mates on top