The Geography of Hurling

Why?
Hurling originates from field hockey, it was in the 18th century when Irish people developed on the modern day field hockey. They changed rules such as the shape of the stick, the goals, the protective gear and many rules such as how you can tackle a player, how many people are on the pitch at any one time (11 in hockey and 15 in hurling) and in hurling you can hold the ball for a number of steps.

here are a few of the comparisons: 
Hurling                                        Hockey

Although these sports are almost the exact same idea as it started out they have changed hugely to make the sports easier for the players etc.

The World of Hockey 2014/15

World Rankings

In hockey the rankings is done by points, these are counted up 3-4 times a year or after each important hockey event such as the olympics, the hockey world cup etc.

here are the rankings I got from the IHF website(International Federation of Hockey) 

Men's Top 20 Rankings as of 16 June 2014 Rank Team Points 1  Australia 2325 2  Netherlands 2233 3  Germany 1948 4  Belgium 1828 5  England 1820 6  New Zealand 1680 7  Argentina 1661 8  South Korea 1490 9  India 1458 10  Spain 1335 11  Pakistan 1203 12  South Africa 1103 13  Malaysia 1053 14  Japan 868 15  Ireland 860 16  Canada 825 17  France 673 18  Poland 658 19  Russia 648 20  Czech Republic 535

Women's Top 20 Rankings as of 16 June 2014 Rank Team Points 1  Netherlands 2435 2  Australia 2175 3  Argentina 2145 4  New Zealand 1843 5  China 1653 6  England 1637 7  Germany 1625 8  United States 1593 9  South Korea 1575 10  Japan 1498 11  South Africa 1228 12  Belgium 1193 13  India 948 14  Spain 815 15  Ireland 803 16  Scotland 702 17  Italy 698 18  Azerbaijan 650 19  Belarus 633 20  Chile 581

As you can see the rankings are similar in Men and Women, Australia and the Netherlands being in the top two in both! Ireland is also ranked 15th in both genders.  





Rabobank World Cup 2014
The Hockey world cup was held in the Netherlands from the 31st of May to the 15th of June. The Mens final took place on the 15th and was played between the hosts The Netherlands and previous winners Australia, both teams are very fast, skilled and strong and returning champions received their cup after a 6-1 win. With goals from Jamie Dwyer, Kieran Govers, Glen Turner and 3 from Ciriello. Australia also got Player of the Tournament for their captain Mark Knowels and junior play of the tournament being Jeremy Hayward.

The womens final consisted of Australia and the Netherlands aswell. They played on the 14th of June in the Kyocera stadium. The Netherlands won with a score of  2-0 with goals from Paumen (penalty flick) and Lammers scored her 200th goal to secure the win. This is Duetch womens 7th time to win the world cup including 4 years ago in India, New Dheli.