Camogie is to hurling what softball is to baseball. In other words, it’s the feminine version of hurling. Stemming from the pure tradition of Gaelic sports, and supported by the GAA, Camogie is just as popular as hurling. Watching it on TV is a tradition in Irish families!
While hurling dates back to the Middle Ages, Camogie is a much more recent sport. It all began in the early 1900s, when women started talking about taking up the sport. To distinguish themselves from hurling, practised only by men, they called their game “Camogie”.
While many women were curious about this new sport, it was already a great success in 1904, when the first official Camogie match was played in Navan. The first meeting was well attended, and the Irish players decided to create an official association dedicated to Camogie.
The Association helped spread this new sport, and the craze soon spread throughout Ireland: not a single county was an exception to the rule, and each region created its own women’s Camogie teams.
Alas, the War of Independence, followed by the Civil War of the 1920s, slowed Camogie practice considerably over several years. In these troubled times, it’s no longer a time for sport, but for conflict, and the Official Camogie Association is plunged into total inactivity.
It wasn’t until 1932 that the company was born again. It is institutionalized as a National Federation, thanks to the support of the GAA.and numerous matches were played all over the country. As a result, every year the Federation registers a large number of new players who develop around official leagues.
A camogie team comprises 15 players, including a goalkeeper, 6 defenders, 2 midfielders and 6 forwards. Each player is equipped with her own stick, called a “camán” or “hurley”, made of ash wood and measuring 75 to 90 centimetres in length. The game is played around a leather ball called a “sliotar”, weighing just under 100 grams. Once hit by the butt, the sliotar can reach speeds of up to 110 km/h.
As hurling is a potentially violent sport, players often wear helmets, although this is not compulsory.
The rules differ little from hurling, with a few exceptions:
For the rest, the principle is the same: the players, armed with a stick, have to score points by piercing their opponents’ defenses and shooting a leather ball towards the goal.
The pitch is 140 metres long and 80 metres wide, longer than a soccer pitch but slightly narrower. Hurling goals resemble rugby goals (H-shaped) mixed with soccer goals. It is therefore possible to score between the two posts, or in the cage; the score depends on it. If the ball passes between the 2 posts, above the horizontal bar of the net, the scoring team gets 1 point.
If, on the other hand, a player scores a goal in the cage defended by the goalkeeper, this is equivalent to 3pts. If a team scores 3 goals and 11 points, the score is 3-11 and is equivalent to 3×3 +11 = 20 pts.
Derek Sigler - 
