Cornish hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game played only in Cornwall, England, played with a small silver ball. While the sport shares its name with the Irish game of hurling, the two sports are completely different.
Once played widely in Cornwall, the game has similarities to other traditional football or inter parish 'mob' games played in various parts of Britain, but certain attributes make hurling unique to Cornwall. It is considered by many to be Cornwall's national game along with Cornish wrestling. An old saying in the Cornish language goes "hyrlîan yw gen gwaré nyi", which means "hurling is our sport".
Today the sport survives only in two communities: St Columb Major, where the [|traditional hurling matches] are played on Shrove Tuesday and the second Saturday following, between the Townsmen and the Countrymen of the parish; and in St Ives, where a hurling game is played by children on Feast Monday. In addition, a version of hurling features in the beating of the bounds festivities at Bodmin roughly every five years. Although the custom attracts fewer spectators, the annual hurling matches at St Columb Major have similar status in the Cornish calendar to 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.
Ball
Typically, the outer shell of a hurling ball is sterling silver which is hammered into two hemispheres and then bound around a core of applewood, held together with screws or nails through a band of silver. The balls used in the St Columb games were crafted for a few years by John Turver, but since the 1990s new balls have been made by local craftsman Colin Rescorla. At St Columb 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 said to be around £1,000, depending on the price of silver at the time. The current inscription on the St Columb ball is "Town and Country, do your best", which derives from the motto: "Town and Country do your best, for in this parish I must rest".Size and weight
There is no definitive size or weight for St Columb hurling balls, which are handmade; the weight is typically 19 to 21 ounces, and they are about 9 inches or 23 cm in circumference, similar to a cricket ball. Given its weight and hardness, hurlers and spectators maintain intense vigilance to avoid serious injury from a long or poorly aimed throw.Hurling balls on public display
There are examples of hurling balls on public display at Truro Museum, Lanhydrock House, St Ives Museum, St Agnes Museum and St Columb Major Town Hall. Many are also held in private hands. One held at Penzance Museum is thought to be very old and bears the following inscription in 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 into English as "sweet play fair without hate to be called", which may be roughly translated as "fair play is good play".A 1990s St Columb hurling ball is on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester, as part of a collection of exhibits relating to the development of modern football codes from medieval football and other traditional games such as hurling.
History
Little is recorded of the sport until about the 16th century when contests were generally between groups of men from two parishes. 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 association 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 was common in the west of the county. This had few rules and was more similar to the St Columb game of modern times. Inter-parish matches died out towards the end of the 18th century but matches between different sections of the same township continued. At St Ives those named Tom, Will and John formed a team to play against those with other names on the Monday after Quadragesima. At Truro a team of married men played against a team of bachelors, and at Helston the men of two particular streets played against the men of the others. The field of the St Ives game has been changed twice, first to the beach, and in 1939 to the public park.In August, 1705, a fatality occurred during a hurling match at Camborne. The parish burials register contains the following entry 'William Trevarthen buried in the church. "Being disstroid to a hurling with Redruth men at the high dounes the 10th day of August". This is the only recorded death of a player during a hurling match.
Possible origins
Hurling is very similar to the game of cnapan; a form of medieval football played until the nineteenth century in the southwestern counties of Wales, especially Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. George Owen of Henllys believed cnapan was played by the Celtic Britons. There is circumstantial evidence to support this claim. The Cornish, Welsh and Bretons of Brittany are historically descended from Romano-Britons who inhabited the Roman province of Britannia before the Anglo-Saxons incursions from the 5th century.In Brittany, Normandy and Picardy a comparable game is known as la soule or choule. The earliest recorded game of Soule comes from Cornwall. Court records from 1283 show an entry in the plea rolls providing details of legal action taken when a man called Roger was accused of killing a fellow Soule player with a stone..
Considering the clear similarities between Hyrlîan, Cnapan and La Soule, the common Brittonic languages, shared culture and ancestry it is likely these three sports evolved from the same game. The Romans are known to have played a ball game containing physical aspects of these sports called Harpastum. There is no hard evidence Harpastum continued to be played in Europe after the Western Roman Empire fell into decline although an alternative form was revived as Calcio Fiorentino during the renaissance in 16th century Tuscany. The Orkney 'Ba' Game', which has been played on Christmas Eve and Hogmanay every year since the mid-19th century, has some similarity to Cornish Hurling.
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 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 ;
Through dykes and rivers make, in the rubustious play;
- 1595, mention of a 'sylver ball gylt' in the St Columb Green Book
- 1602, in his survey of Cornwall, historian Richard Carew writes about Cornish hurling. The rule about no forward passing applied to only one of the two historic forms of hurling, and still applies to the modern sport of rugby.
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, three silver balls used in hurling.
- 1654, at Hyde Park, London: The Lord Protector, 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 April – 4 May 1654
- 1705, Thomas Boson wrote an inscription in the Cornish Language prepared for William Gwavas' silver hurling ball, at Paul, Cornwall.
- 1707, the Cornish saying "hyrlîan yw gen gwaré nyi" was published in Archaeologia Britannica, by Edward Lhuyd.
Modern survival of the game
The matches at St Columb and St Ives, and the game played as part of the beating the bounds ceremony at Bodmin are the only instances of the sport today.