The Surprising Revival of Road Bowling, Ireland's Ancient Sport

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

austinallegro

27 points

15 comments

rte.ieOtherstory

calmmixed

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Traditional SportsIrish CultureOutdoor Activities

Key topics

Traditional Sports

Irish Culture

Outdoor Activities

The article discusses the revival of road bowling, an ancient Irish sport, and its growing popularity on social media, with commenters sharing their thoughts on the sport's uniqueness and potential for adaptation.

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01Story posted
Sep 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM EDT
3 months ago
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02First comment
Sep 25, 2025 at 6:16 PM EDT
2d after posting
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03Peak activity
11 comments in 48-54h
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04Latest activity
Sep 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM EDT
3 months ago
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Discussion (15 comments)

Showing 15 comments

Mistletoe

3 months ago

4 replies

No disrespect to Ireland at all but this does not look like a real game.

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?

donohoe

3 months ago

It makes much more sense to me than golf does.

physarum_salad

3 months ago

"this does not look like a real game"...turns off computer and plays beer pong

clickety_clack

3 months 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

secondcoming

3 months ago

There are people ahead who warn/stop cars. It's only really played on quieter country roads.

Molitor5901

3 months ago

3 replies

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

3 months ago

1 reply

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

3 months 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/

esperent

3 months 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

3 months 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.

jmclnx

3 months 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 :)

codeduck

3 months ago

What a quintessentially Irish thing to do.

i_don_t_know

3 months ago

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

German names are Klootschießen and Boßeln.

physarum_salad

3 months ago

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

SpicyUme

3 months ago

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

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ID: 45352621Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 3:47:06 PM

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