Senior Hurling Championship Final between Kilkenny and Waterford for BBC Television, English football commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme was moved to describe hurling as his second favourite sport in the world. Alex Ferguson used footage of an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final in an attempt to motivate his players during his time as manager of Premier League football club Manchester United. The players winced at the standard of physicality and intensity in which the hurlers engaged. In 2007, Forbes magazine described the media attention and population multiplication of Thurles town ahead of one of the game's annual provincial hurling finals as being "the rough equivalent of 30 million Americans watching a regional lacrosse game". Financial Times columnist Simon Kuper wrote after Stephen Bennett's performance in the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final that hurling was "the best sport ever and if the Irish had colonised the world, nobody would ever have heard of football". UNESCO lists hurling as an element of Intangible cultural heritage. Statistics A team comprises 15 players, or "hurlers" The hurl is generally in length The ball, known as a sliotar, has a cork centre and a leather cover; it is between in diameter, and weighs between The goalkeeper's hurl usually has a bas (the flattened, curved end) twice the size of other players' hurleys to provide some advantage against the fast moving sliotar A good strike with a hurl can propel the ball over in speed and in distance. A ball hit over the bar is worth one point. A ball that is hit under the bar is called a goal and is worth three points. As of 2010, all players must wear helmets. Rules Playing field A hurling pitch is similar in some respects to a rugby pitch but larger. The grass pitch is rectangular, stretching long and wide. There are H-shaped goalposts at each end, formed by two posts, which are usually high, set apart, and connected above the ground by a crossbar. A net extending behind the goal is attached to the crossbar and lower goal posts. The same pitch is used for Gaelic football; the GAA, which organises both sports, decided this to facilitate dual usage. Lines are marked at distances of 14 yards, 21 yards and 65 yards (45 yards for Gaelic football) from each end-line. Shorter pitches and smaller goals are used by youth teams. Teams Teams consist of fifteen players: a