On Sunday, we all went to the Leinster Final, the hurling championship in Ireland. EUSA had reserved tickets for us, and the best part...they were FREE and some pretty awesome seats!
It was a really neat experience to get to learn about this sport, because I had never even heard of it before. It is basically a cross between field hockey and lacrosse, where their sticks are like paddles. They can use the paddles to hit the ball far across the field, pass it to their teammate, or balance the ball on top of the paddle. They can only take 4 steps while holding the ball in their hand, then they have to pass it or balance it on the paddle. They get 1 point for getting the ball through the field goal and 3 points for getting the ball into the goal.
The craziest part about this game is that even though it is a national championship and the entire country follows the sport, the players are not paid! It comes across just like any professional sports, tons of sponsorships, huge stadium, crazy fans, but they all work regular 9-5 jobs on top of playing hurling.
Just think of how awesome that is...money and ego doesn't get in the way of the love of the game for these men. I think American culture could take a lesson or two from Ireland when it comes to how much we over glorify our professional athletes. It takes away from the love of the game.
I think you can learn a lot about a culture through their sports, at least I definitely learned a lot about Ireland when I went to their hurling championship! It is obviously going to be similar anywhere you go that you will have tons of crazy fans arriving to the stadium to cheer on their team. But I don't know, maybe I just don't get out much in the States, but I honestly think the Irish are more intense and rougher when it comes to supporting their home team. I was talking about this with the other girls I was with and they all agreed too. Irish temper, I guess.
Also, during half time while waiting in line at concessions, we saw soooo many children waiting in line by themselves! I don't know any parent at home that would let their child run around a national stadium by themselves. Maybe everyone here is just more trusting, maybe they don't have to worry about crime as much as we do? An interesting point nonetheless.
So back to the game - the teams don't play in their county teams all year. So there isn't a "Dublin" team or a "Kilkenny" team that always practices together. The players play all year with their local club team, then the best players from the club team form the county team to play in the championships. So those players become real local heroes for the people back home.
Sadly, Dublin did not win (*whomp whomp*), but apparently Kilkenny is always the "king" of hurling. It was beautiful weather and a great day to learn even more about this country I have been living in for - wow a whole month now!
Blog post title - I Made It by Kevin Rudolf
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