The objective of the game is for players to use an ash wood stick called a hurley (in Irish a camán, pronounced /ˈkæmən/ or /kəˈmɔːn/) to hit a small ball called a sliotar /ˈʃlɪtər/ between the opponent's goalposts either over the crossbar for one point or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for three points.

Hurling has some popularity among members of the Irish diaspora in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Dubai and Argentina.

Alex Ferguson used footage of an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final in an attempt to motivate his players during his time as manager of Premier League football club Manchester United.

The GAA hopes to significantly reduce the number of injuries by introducing the compulsory wearing of helmets with full faceguards, both in training and matches.

Hurlers of all ages, including those at nursery clubs when holding a hurley in their hand, must wear a helmet and faceguard at all times.

There are several forms of acceptable tackling, the most popular being: A hurling match is watched over by eight officials: The referee is responsible for starting and stopping play, recording the score, awarding frees, noting infractions, and issuing yellow (caution) and red (sending off) penalty cards to players after offences.

Blunt injury to the larynx is an infrequent consequence of contact sports despite protective equipment and stringent rules.

The tale of the Táin Bó Cuailnge (drawing on earlier legends) describes the hero Cúchulainn playing hurling at Emain Macha.

Similar tales are told about Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Fianna, his legendary warrior band.

Recorded references to hurling appear in many places such as the fourteenth century Statutes of Kilkenny and a fifteenth-century grave slab surviving in Inishowen, County Donegal.

One of the first modern attempts to standardise the game with a formal, written set of rules came with the foundation of the Irish Hurling Union at Trinity College Dublin in 1879.

It aimed "to draw up a code of rules for all clubs in the union and to foster that manly and noble game of hurling in this, its native country".

[18] The founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884 in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary, ended decline by organising the game around a common set of written rules.

However, the twentieth century saw Cork, Kilkenny[19] as well as Tipperary dominate hurling with each of these counties winning more than 20 All-Ireland titles each.

Wexford, Waterford, Clare, Limerick, Offaly, Antrim, Dublin, and Galway were also strong hurling counties during the twentieth century.

[22] 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).

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.

An attempt was made to use native Argentine mountain ash, but it proved too heavy and lacking in pliability.

Reportedly, the hurling match attracted a crowd of five hundred Irish immigrants, while the Orange march shivered out of existence.

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

Reportedly, the contest was greatly enjoyed despite the fact that one newspaper dubbed the game "Two Degrees Safer Than War".

Immigrants from County Wicklow who had arrived to work in the explosives factory in Umbogintwini, KwaZulu-Natal formed a team c. 1915–16.

Games were traditionally played in a pitch on the site of the modern-day Johannesburg Central Railway Station every Easter Sunday after Mass.

In 1932, a South African hurling team sailed to Ireland to compete in the Tailteann Games, where they carried a banner donated by a convent of Irish nuns in Cape Town.

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 Christian Brothers schools in Boksburg and Pretoria well into the 1950s.

[31] Newspaper reports from the 1850s refer to occasional matches played in San Francisco, Hoboken and New York City.

[32] 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.

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, MA, Corvallis, OR, Akron, OH,[34] Raleigh, NC, Concord, NH, Portland, Maine, Providence, RI, Twin Cities, MN, Madison, WI, Milwaukee, WI,[35] Washington, DC, Hampton Roads, VA, Rochester NY, Nashville, TN, Richmond, VA, Hartford, CT, Missoula, MT, Butte, MT and Seattle, WA.