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A new Silver Ball with the motto "Town and Country do your best" inscribed on the band
A new Silver Ball with the motto "Town and Country do your best" inscribed on the band

Hurling or Hurlin' (Cornish: Hurlian), is an outdoor team sport of Celtic origin. For the Cornish-English dialect see West Country dialects and List of Cornish dialect words. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts It is played with a small silver ball. It is not to be confused with the Irish game of the same name which allows the use of sticks. Hurling (in Irish, iománaíocht or iomáint) is an outdoor team Sport of ancient Gaelic origin administered by the Gaelic

Once played widely in Cornwall, the game has similarities to other traditional football or inter parish 'mob' games, but certain attributes make this version unique to Cornwall. Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar It is considered by many to be Cornwall's national sport along with Cornish wrestling. Cornish wrestling is a form of Wrestling similar to Judo, which has been established in Cornwall (South West of the UK for several centuries

Cornish Hurling is noteworthy for providing the earliest reference to a team ball game with goals, and passing of the ball from player to player ("dealing").

Contents

The ball

The ball for hurling is made of sterling silver which is hammered into two hemispheres and the bound around a core of applewood which is held together with a band of silver. The band hold screws or nails which hold the ball together. Normally a motto would appear on the band, such as "Town and country Do your best!". The ball is equal in size to a cricket ball.

There are examples of hurling balls on public display at Truro museum, Lanhydrock house, St. Columb Major post office and St Columb Town hall. Truro (ˈtruːrəʊ Truru is a city in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, and is the centre for administration leisure St Columb Major (Sen Kolomm Veur often simply called St Columb, is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, to the south west of Many are also held in private hands. In St. Columb the ball is only ever made by local craftsman and funeral director Colin Rescorla.

The game as played at St. Ives

A St. Columb ball, 1995
A St. Columb ball, 1995

A silver hurling ball which is the size of an orange, made from apple-wood and coated with silver, flies through the village streets of St. Ives on Feast Monday in February (the feast is on the Sunday nearest to February 3). St Ives (Porth Ia is a seaside town, Civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states The game starts at 10. 30am when the silver ball is thrown from the wall of the Parish Church by the Mayor to the crowd below on the beach. The ball is passed from one to another on the beach and then up into the streets of St Ives. The person in possession of the ball when the clock strikes noon takes it to the Mayor at the Guildhall and receives the traditional reward of five shillings. At one time the game was played by the men of the village. These days it is played by the children.

The game at St. Columb Major

At St. Columb Major on Shrove Tuesday and the second Saturday following, a much rougher and traditional version of the game is played. St Columb Major (Sen Kolomm Veur often simply called St Columb, is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, to the south west of Shrove Tuesday is the term used in Ireland the United Kingdom Australia and Canada to refer to the day after Shrove Monday (or the more old fashioned Collop Monday The game involves a physical battle on the streets and in the surrounding countryside, between the "Townsmen" and "Countrymen" of the parish, with the shops in the town barricading their windows and doors to protect from accidental damage, which sometimes occurs. The game starts with the throw-up, usually followed by a large scrum, at 4:30 p. m. The ball is thrown to the crowd at the Market Square and the objective of the game is to control its possession with deliberate passing and tackling. Game play in the town normally lasts no longer than one hour. During this period the different teams are irrelevant, i. e. townsmen 'deal' the ball to countrymen and vice versa; the play often stops for spectators to touch the ball. After about an hour the ball is hurled towards respective goals that are set about two miles apart, or, very often, if a route to the goals is unpractical, players may carry the ball through roads and fields that surround the town, with the aim of taking the ball across the Parish boundary. A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches In this latter stage of the match the two sides strive for possession, and the actual "Town against Country" hurling takes place.

The 'winner of the ball' (that is, the hurler that goals the ball or carries it over the boundary) is carried on the shoulders of two teammates back to Market Square, to strains of the hurling "song". Here he calls up the ball, declaring "Town Ball" or "Country Ball", depending on the side to which he belongs.

At 8:00 p. m. , the winner returns Market Square to call up the ball again. This is followed by a visit to each of the public houses of the town where the ball will be immersed in gallon jugs filled with beer. Each gallon will be 'called up' and the 'silver beer' (as it is known), will be shared amongst those present.

Hurling trivia

Pub Sign at St. Columb Major in Cornwall
Pub Sign at St. Columb Major in Cornwall
Most of the following pertains to the game as it is played at St. Columb Major.

Terminology

Game terminology (as used primarily in St Columb) includes:

Early written evidence of hurling in Cornwall

The Cornish-men they are stronge, hardye and nymble, so are their exercises violent, two especially, Wrastling and Hurling, sharpe and seuere actiuties; and in neither of theis doth any Countrye exceede or equall them. See also Topography Starting in Ancient Greece, places have been described in topography ( and an author of such writing has been called a John Norden (1548- 1625 was an English Topographer. He was the first Englishman who designed a complete series of county histories and geographies or a The Cornish people (Kernowyon are regarded as an Ethnic group of the United Kingdom originating in Cornwall. The firste is violent, but the seconde is daungerous: The firste is acted in two sortes , by Holdster (as they called it) and by the Coller; the seconde likewise two ways , as Hurling to goales, and Hurling to the Countrye.

According to the law, or when the ball to throw;
And drive it to the gole, in squadrons forth they goe;
And to avoid the troupes (their forces that forlay);
Through dykes and rivers make, in the rubustious play; [2]

That the hurler must deal no foreball, or throw it to any partner standing nearer the goal than himself. Rugby football (usually just " rugby " may refer to a number of sports through history descended from a common form of Football developed at Rugby School In dealing the ball, if any of the adverse party can catch it flying . . . the property of it is thereby transferred to the catching party; and so assailants become defendants, and defendant assailants.
William Trevarthen buried in the church. A margin mote in the churchwardens accounts explains "Being disstroid to a hurling with Redruth men at the high dounes the 10th day of August". Redruth (Rysrudh is a town and Civil parish in the district of Kerrier (traditionally in Penwith Hundred) Cornwall, England

Dates for future games at St Columb

Further reading

External links

References

  1. ^ a b Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press, 163. Retrieved on 2007-08-18. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica.  
  2. ^ [Poly-Olbion: A Chronologic Description of Great Britain By Michael Drayton (The first - song page 7)]
  3. ^ West Penwith Resources - Penzance: Past and Present (Millett 3)
  4. ^ Forestry | British History Online
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