4 ms·

The surprising revival of road bowling, Ireland's ancient sport

27 points by austinallegro 1y ago

Mistletoe 1y ago
No disrespect to Ireland at all but this does not look like a real game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyomkya9qG8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyomkya9qG8 It looks like something Michael Scott would have made up. And how do you avoid getting run over?
- clickety_clack 1y ago
  This is a more accurate depiction of throwing the bowl. It’s a bit more athletic than that guy made it look. https://youtu.be/OwjNenO259Q https://youtu.be/OwjNenO259Q
- secondcoming 1y ago
  There are people ahead who warn/stop cars. It's only really played on quieter country roads.
- physarum_salad 1y ago
  "this does not look like a real game"...turns off computer and plays beer pong
- donohoe 1y ago
  It makes much more sense to me than golf does.
jmclnx 1y ago
Sounds lots of fun, but I would not be able to play. Well I probably could but I have always been an extremely slow runner. Bicycling was different, but running, could never do :)
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
Molitor5901 1y ago
This sounds cool! I remember when I came upon HURLING (the sport) late one evening and it was absolutely incredible. A bunch of guys with no helmets running around bouncing a baseball on the end of a short hockey stick, and then slamming that ball across the field.. I thought surely someone was about to get beaned. Incredible sport.
- rgblambda 1y ago
  Hurling should be played with helmets. If it's just a group of friends in a park casually passing the sliotar (ball) to each other and taking practice shots then okay, but not if they were playing a proper game.
  - WorkerBee28474 1y ago
    +1 to helmets. In youth, the very similar sport of lacrosse actually has a higher risk of concussion than football [0]. [0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10883126/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10883126/
- esperent 1y ago
  Any serious hurling game since at least the early nineties is always played with helmets (as a legal requirement, but also just common sense). Sure, you might have a friendly knockaround without them, but not a real match.
- illwrks 1y ago
  You need to wear a helmet with it. Years ago a colleague played in the local team and one weekend took a hurley (the stick with the metal band at the end) to the face and had his jaw broken. Never forgot his helmet again.
physarum_salad 1y ago
It's "hedge petanque". Looks more fun too. Line of sight to the ball is not optimal though.
SpicyUme 1y ago
This looks like it could be bastardized into a fun neighborhood event with some planning.
codeduck 1y ago
What a quintessentially Irish thing to do.
i_don_t_know 1y ago
The same sport is played in the Netherlands and north-western Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klootschieten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klootschieten German names are Klootschießen and Boßeln.

27 points by austinallegro 1y ago

No disrespect to Ireland at all but this does not look like a real game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyomkya9qG8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyomkya9qG8 It looks like something Michael Scott would have made up. And how do you avoid getting run over?

clickety_clack 1y ago
This is a more accurate depiction of throwing the bowl. It’s a bit more athletic than that guy made it look. https://youtu.be/OwjNenO259Q https://youtu.be/OwjNenO259Q
secondcoming 1y ago
There are people ahead who warn/stop cars. It's only really played on quieter country roads.
physarum_salad 1y ago
"this does not look like a real game"...turns off computer and plays beer pong
donohoe 1y ago
It makes much more sense to me than golf does.

jmclnx 1y ago

Sounds lots of fun, but I would not be able to play. Well I probably could but I have always been an extremely slow runner. Bicycling was different, but running, could never do :)

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

Molitor5901 1y ago

This sounds cool! I remember when I came upon HURLING (the sport) late one evening and it was absolutely incredible. A bunch of guys with no helmets running around bouncing a baseball on the end of a short hockey stick, and then slamming that ball across the field.. I thought surely someone was about to get beaned. Incredible sport.

rgblambda 1y ago
Hurling should be played with helmets. If it's just a group of friends in a park casually passing the sliotar (ball) to each other and taking practice shots then okay, but not if they were playing a proper game.
- WorkerBee28474 1y ago
  +1 to helmets. In youth, the very similar sport of lacrosse actually has a higher risk of concussion than football [0]. [0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10883126/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10883126/
esperent 1y ago
Any serious hurling game since at least the early nineties is always played with helmets (as a legal requirement, but also just common sense). Sure, you might have a friendly knockaround without them, but not a real match.
illwrks 1y ago
You need to wear a helmet with it. Years ago a colleague played in the local team and one weekend took a hurley (the stick with the metal band at the end) to the face and had his jaw broken. Never forgot his helmet again.

physarum_salad 1y ago

It's "hedge petanque". Looks more fun too. Line of sight to the ball is not optimal though.

SpicyUme 1y ago

This looks like it could be bastardized into a fun neighborhood event with some planning.

codeduck 1y ago

What a quintessentially Irish thing to do.

i_don_t_know 1y ago

The same sport is played in the Netherlands and north-western Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klootschieten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klootschieten German names are Klootschießen and Boßeln.