Ancient sport of hurling finds a home in Eugene
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EUGENE, Ore. - By the time some college students are waking up on Saturday morning, the Eugene Trappers have already hit the field.
Equipped with one small ball, a flat rounded stick called a hurley and a full-face helmet, these athletes are ready for their game to begin.
They run up and down the field passing the little ball back and forth. They swing at the ball with their hurley or throw a pass to a fellow teammate.
Two nets sit at either side of the field, each guarded by a goalie.
The game they play resembles soccer, field hockey and lacrosse all mixed into one.
Hurling is the oldest field sport in Europe and has been played for around 2,000 years. This sport was originally brought to Ireland by the Celtics and has evolved alongside Irish history.
Today, it is the second most popular sport in Ireland and is part of the Gaelic Athletic Association.
The rules for hurling are fairly straightforward:
There are two goals with two goalposts and a crossbar that on a traditional hurling field is slightly higher than a soccer goal but lower then a rugby goal. However, in Eugene the teams have grown accustomed to the various soccer nets around town.
The object of the game is to score points by hitting the ball into the net for three points and above the crossbar for one point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Players can hit the ball on the ground or in the air with their hurley but can carry the ball by hand for no more than four steps.
After those four steps, players either pass it off to a teammate or they can balance the ball on their hurley. But if a player chooses the latter, they can only catch the ball in their hand twice before they have to get rid of it.
Even though the rules aren’t well known, there aren't 50,000 fans cheering from the sidelines and the team lacks a fancy field to play on, these athletes still charge the field every Saturday simply to hang out with people who love the quirky sport as much as they do.
