With 2026 set to be a banner year for sport, Condé Nast Traveller turns its attention to the artisans behind the action. Across the UK and Ireland, we’re spotlighting the makers crafting the equipment, uniforms and tools that make sport possible – while keeping ancient craft and local tradition alive in the process. See more from our Sports & Craft series here.
When pitted against the likes of rugby and football, hurling might seem inconsequential in the grand, global scheme of sport, but in Ireland it is at the heart of nearly every community and commands over 500,000 members through the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It’s the country’s national sport, has been recognised by UNESCO as an intrinsic part of Irish culture and hurls, and the sticks used to play the game, are held in such high regard that they’re gifted to royalty, dignitaries and celebrities who visit the Emerald Isle. A token of a time-honoured craft with the legacy of an ancient sport: a cultural thread you can follow back for thousands of years.
For David Dowling, whose family has been making hurls in Kilkenny for five generations, that thread is tangible. “My grandfather learned hurl-making from his father-in-law, my great-grandfather. It was a skill that was passed directly from one generation to the next, and that’s how it eventually came down to us,” he says.
The game is one of the oldest in the world, and is thought to have prehistoric origins. It has since been recorded in history books through stories and songs, with the first citation in literature dating to 1272 BC. In the misty days of warriors and kings, it was practised to train champions for the battlefield, and it has had a tumultuous past that mirrors Ireland’s history across the ages. The Norman invaders outlawed the game in the 12th century, and by the time the famine rolled around, its future hung in the balance. However, the 19th century saw a resurgence amongst Dublin’s upper classes and in 1884 the GAA was founded to preserve and restore traditional Gaelic pastimes, providing support and funding to help the game flourish once again.
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