More Than A Pastime

Hurling is a great game when played on a warm day on a grassy pitch. However, there is always the unwelcome inevitability that you must start the year in the muck on some torn up field. The sliotar is heavy and lacks the balmy zip that summer supports as it moves through the air. I had my first outing on Tuesday night and despite the very real threat of spring breaking out in Brussels, it was as if the Gods felt it only right to open the heavens.

It was nothing short of horrid. We never got warm, puddles quickly formed on the pitch and we struggled en masse with the wayward touch. It can be fairly soul destroying playing hurling when the ball is hopping everywhere except where it should be. Despite all this and the understandable dampened enthusiasm of the 8 hurlers on show, Martin persisted, running through some decent drills in the process.

We go into our defence of the Euro Championship this year unsure of what we have and what we don't have in terms of players. The 8 who showed on Tuesday are all hurlers at least so that’s a good start. Big Jim is firmly in situ this year too and with a few months of training behind him he will be an asset. Shane Ryan is another addition, fresh off the boat from Patrickswell. These two lads are regular hurlers and have good pedigree. Add to that Whitehall native Fergal Mythen and you see some new additions blending in and replacing the outgoings. We can't forget Crusher either who gives appropriate opportunity to insert the 'he's like a new signing' cliche.

We walked the Championship last year and I don't mean to say that with even the slightest hint of arrogance. We had a strong squad of hurlers whereas our opponents struggled badly with recruitment. The result was major calls for reform in the Championship, moving to home and away based games and that kind of thing. For me the format suits just fine but teams need to suck up the bad times and be committed to keeping the competition alive. One of the problems is that all the teams except Paris (who are only getting going) have won the Championship in recent years. When you go from that high to struggling to field teams, enthusiasm drains out of the thing. From our point of view it is the other way around. We endured some awful days up until last year but to the credit of those involved, we never failed to field at any tournament, anywhere.

There are lads after returning to The Hague this year that will strengthen their team but such is the focus on football up there at the minute, it's hard to know how they will shape up. The Paris lads are persisting in getting the game off the ground there and the Zurich boys are continuously fighting against the tide and have turned to developing local talent to sustain their club. Luxembourg will be an unknown quantity until their student cards are revealed. It's hard to say at this stage how we will shape up but I'm sure we will be in a position to compete.

One of the outcomes of the debate on the hurling structure was to shorten the season. It now runs from May to mid-July which is ridiculously short in my opinion. How can you develop guy’s skills with just three months of competition? Football is on a high on the continent at the moment with improving standards and expanding teams. As always, Hurling faces massive challenges to fight for it's slice of recognition and player commitment.

In Belgium, we have unprecedented numbers turning out for football and so there is a danger that one may overtake the other. We managed the situation well last year and my expectation is that we can do the same this year. Playing hurling anywhere is never going to be easy. There will be days like Tuesday when it can seem the most frustrating game in the world but there will also be days like those in Luxembourg last year when it is the greatest game in the world. We must remember it is more a journey and a cause than a pastime and so the drive to keep things going must always come through.