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

Hurling or Hurling the Silver Ball (Cornish: Hyrlîan), is an outdoor team sport of Celtic origin played only in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. 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.

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. It is considered by many to be Cornwall's national sport along with Cornish wrestling. An old saying in the Cornish language goes; "hyrlîan yw gen gwaré nyi" which translated into English means, "Hurling is our sport" ^[1]

Although the custom attracts fewer spectators, the annual hurling matches at St. Columb Major have the same status in the Cornish calendar as the 'Obby 'Oss festival at Padstow and the Furry Dance at Helston in that all three are unique customs that have survived unchanged and have taken place annually since before records began.

The ball

A St. Columb ball, 1995

The ball for hurling is made of sterling silver which is hammered into two hemispheres and then 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!". There are examples of hurling balls on public display at Truro museum, Lanhydrock House, St. Columb Major Post Office and St. Columb Major Town Hall. Many are also held in private hands. In St. Columb the ball was crafted for many years by John Turver, although in the last decade the ball has been made by local craftsman and funeral director Colin Rescorla.^[2]

Size and weight

There is no definitive size or weight, as the ball is hand-made, but generally the weight is about 19 to 21 ounces and is equal in size to a cricket ball.^[3]

History

Whilst the exact origins of hurling are unknown, one theory is that it derives from the Irish game of hurling and was brought back to Britain after the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th Century.^[4] Another theory suggests that it is linked with a Pagan fertility rite, with a silver ball being cast up in honour of the sun. With the coming of Christianity it is believed this was turned into a game.^[5] The game's origins are thus thought to be over 1000 years old.

Little is recorded of the sport until about the 16th Century. At this point there were two forms of the game, according to Carew's Survey of Cornwall. "Hurling to goals" was played on a pitch similar to that of modern-day football, and had many strict rules, similar to those of football and rugby; this was common in the east of the county. "Hurling to country", however, was often played over large areas of countryside and despite its name also involved goals. This had few rules and was more similar to the St. Columb game of modern times (see below).^[6]

Modern survival of the game

Up until the 19th century the game was still relatively common, with many Cornish towns and villages holding a match on feast and fair days, and games between St Columb Major and Newquay survived into the early 1900s.^[7]

The traditional annual matches at St Columb and St Ives are the only instances of the sport today although hurling of a silver ball is part of the beating the bounds ceremony at Bodmin every five years.

The game as played at St. Ives

The annual St. Ives hurling match happens on Feast Monday each February (the feast is on the Sunday nearest to February 3). 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 on the second Saturday following, a much rougher and traditional version of the game is played. 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 at 4:30 p.m, usually followed by a large scrum. 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, throwing, snatching and tackling. Game play in the town normally lasts no longer than one hour. During this period the two teams are irrelevant, i.e. townsmen 'deal' the ball to countrymen and vice versa. Play often stops for spectators to touch the ball for luck or fertility or slows to allow younger players to participate. After about an hour the ball is hurled towards respective goals that are set about two miles apart, at either end of the town. Very often, if a route to the goals is impractical, however, players may carry the ball through the roads and fields that surround the town, with the aim of taking the ball across the Parish boundary. 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 team-mates 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 to 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 is immersed in gallon jugs filled with beer. Each gallon will be 'called up' and the 'silver beer' (as it is known), is shared amongst all those present.

The Hurlers stone circles

The Hurlers, looking south

On Craddock Moor, near Minions, are "The Hurlers". These consist of three separate Bronze Age stone circles with thirteen, seventeen and nine surviving stones. Local tradition maintains that they are men turned to stone for profaning the Lords Day by taking part in a hurling match. The arrangement of the stones led to the name and was recorded as far back as 1584 by John Norden.^[8]

Hurling - points of note

Pub Sign at St. Columb Major in Cornwall

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

• Rules. There is no referee, no official written rules and no organizing committee. The two teams have unequal numbers. The Town team has the larger team since the town has grown larger in size. Before the 1940s the Country team was stronger in numbers due to the number of people who were employed in agriculture.
• Goals and winning. There are two goals but no goal-keepers. The goals are made of granite. The town goal is the base of an old Celtic cross and the country goal is a shallow stone trough. To win the team must carry the ball to its own goal. Another way to win is to carry the ball out of the parish, which can be up to 3 miles. As soon as the ball is goaled or carried out of the parish, the game finishes.
• Field of play. The game takes place mainly in streets still open to traffic. The game can also extend onto private property including gardens and fields and sometimes through houses or pubs. The game can stop at any time so that members of the watching crowd can handle the ball. Touching the ball is said to be lucky and can bring good health and fertility.^[9] The parish of St. Columb Major is the world's largest pitch for any ball game, with an area of about 20 square miles.
• Serious injuries are very rare.
• The ball is made from sterling silver which encases a ball of apple wood. There is only one maker of the ball. The winner of the ball has the right to keep it, but must have a new one made in its place for the next game. The price of a new ball is secret but is said to be around £300. The ball weighs just over a pound.
• The game is known to have originated over 500 years ago. In the last 100 years there have been only two lost balls.
• Time of games. There are only two games a year. The first game is held on Shrove Tuesday. The second game is on the Saturday of a following week. The game is always started at 4:30 pm. The game can last anything up to two hours. After the game the ball is always returned to the start point.
• The game attracts visitors from miles away but most watchers are local to the area.
• Terminology (as used primarily in St. Columb Major) includes:
  • Deal - to pass the ball.
  • Call up - takes place before the game starts when the previous winner holds up the ball, declaring victory for his side. The ball is 'called up' for a second time at 8:00 p.m. by the new winner.
  • Throw up - is the start of the game. A man chosen by the previous winner mounts a step-ladder and throws the ball into the crowd.
  • Winner of the Ball - is the hurler that goals the ball for his side (or carries it over the parish boundary in the St. Columb game).
  • Silver Beer - is beer served after the game, from gallon jugs with the ball in the jug.
  • Stand - to tackle.
  • Shuffle the ball - to hide the ball. (Generally frowned upon - unless done in jest.)

Early written evidence of hurling in Cornwall

• c.1584, Topographer, John Norden who visited Cornwall writes:

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. 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.

• c.1590, Poet, Michael Drayton in his work Poly-Olbion writes on Cornish hurling...

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; ^[10]

• 1602, In his survey of Cornwall historian Richard Carew writes about Cornish hurling. It is interesting to note the rule about no forward passing. This rule only applied to one of the two historic forms of hurling, and still applies to the modern sport of Rugby^[9]

That the hurler must deal no foreball, or throw it to any partner standing nearer the goal than himself. 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.

• 1648 At Penryn: following a Royalist uprising to support the King, the victorious Parliamentarians passed through the town in a triumphant manner with three soldiers, bearing on the points of three swords (carried upright), three silver balls used in hurling.^[11]

• 1654 At Hyde Park, London: The Lord Protector, (Oliver Cromwell) however, was present on that May-day, and appeared keenly to enjoy the sports, as we learn from another source. In company with many of his Privy Council he watched a great hurling match by fifty Cornish gentlemen against fifty others. 'The ball they played withal was silver, and designed for that party which did win the goal.' Report in the Moderate Intell. 26 Apr.-4 May, 1654 ^[12]

• 1705 (13 August) Camborne, from the parish burials register:

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".

• 1707 The Cornish saying "hyrlîan yw gen gwaré nyi" ("Hurling is our sport") appears in print for the first time in Archaeologia Britannica, by Edward Lhuyd.

Hurling Balls on public display

Hurling balls in Truro Museum

Hurling ball used at Truro

Although many hurling balls remain in private collections, there are several on public display. The County museum at Truro has three, while there are two on display at St. Columb Major - one in the Post Office and one in the Town Hall. One held at Penzance Museum is thought to be very old and bears the following inscription in Kernewek (the Cornish language):

Paul Tuz whek Gwaro Tek heb ate buz Henwis. 1704

The first two words signify "Men of Paul" i.e. the owners of the ball. The last seven words may be translated literally (retaining the word order of the engraving) into English as "sweet play fair without hate to be called", which may be roughly trans-literated as: "Fair play is good play."^[13]

Dates for future games at St Columb

(All games start at 4.30 p.m.)

• 2010 - Tuesday February 16 and Saturday February 27
• 2011 - Tuesday March 8 and Saturday March 19

References

1. ^ Archaeologia Britannica, by Edward Lhuyd.
2. ^ Hurling at St Columb in the 21st Century (BBC website)
3. ^ Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports By Tony Collins, John Martin, Wray Vamplew (page 169)
4. ^ Sports and Games of the 18th and 19th Centuries, by Robert Crego
5. ^ Rabey A. I. (1996) From St Columb to the sea ISBN 0 9500235 7 4
6. ^ Carew; The Survey of Cornwall
7. ^ Rabey A. I. (1984) The Silver Ball: the story of hurling at St Columb
8. ^ Westwood, Jennifer (1985), Albion. A Guide to Legendary Britain. London : Grafton Books. ISBN 0-246-11789-3. p. 21.
9. ^ ^{a b} Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press. p. 163. http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=t-P24jQyfP0C&pg=PA487&dq=st+columb+history&sig=LyZQWunjTww2ITTFN9InGnl1XV8#PPA163,M1. Retrieved 2007-08-18.  
10. ^ Drayton, Michael (1612), "Poly-Olbion: A Chronologic Description of Great Britain", (The first edition, song, page 7)
11. ^ West Penwith Resources - Penzance: Past and Present (Millett 3)
12. ^ Forestry | British History Online
13. ^ Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society. V. T. Vibert. 1851. pp. 78.  

Further reading

• Carew, Sir Richard (1602) Survey of Cornwall. Reissued: New York, 1969, pp. 147–149.
• Greenaway, R. D. (1926) Cornish Hurling: the Popular Origins of a Magical Ritual. (Reprinted 2004 by Oakmagic, Monmouth) ISBN 1-904330-62-2
• Rabey, Ivan (1972) Hurling at St. Columb and in Cornwall Padstow: Lodenek Press ISBN 0-902899-11-2
• Hornby, Hugh (2008) Uppies and Downies: the Extraordinary Football Games of Britain Swindon : English Heritage ISBN 1905624646 (contains section on Cornish Hurling)
• Hornby: Uppies and Downies

External links

• Film of St Columb Hurling 2007
• Hurling at St Columb in the 21st Century BBC, Where I live - Cornwall.
• List of Winners at the St. Columb Hurling, 1950 - 2005
• Popular Romances of the West of England: Customs of Ancient Days ...
• Images of Richard Carew's work on hurling
• Town enjoys hurling event. BBC News 24 February, 2004.
• The Hurling The Facebook page devoted the St Columb Game.