Help us get to Nationals!

Who Are We?

The Hurling Club at Berkeley is a co-ed sports team, practicing and competing in the ancient Irish sport of hurling. We are fundraising to compete at the National College Hurling Championships, which will be held over the weekend 15th-18th March 2025. This event will bring together teams from across the United States to represent their colleges in hurling at the national level. Hurling is a national pastime in Ireland, of great cultural significance. It is a field sport, played outside in teams of fifteen players. The players use wooden sticks (hurls) to hit a small leather ball (the sliotar) into their opponents' goal or over the crossbar, scoring goals and points. The sliotar can be hit through the air, along the ground, or passed from the hand. It is known as the fastest game on grass, and has a growing fanbase across the world because of how exciting the games are to watch! In Ireland, the sport is played throughout the country, organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). In the US, collegiate hurling is organised by the National Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association (NCGAA). 

Our History 

The Hurling Club at Berkeley is an NCGAA registered collegiate hurling team. The Hurling Club at Berkeley existed from 2010-2020, but was sadly disbanded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We re-formed the Club in 2023, and our team currently numbers 15+ active players who train every week. Before our team was suspended, we won the National Championships in 2013, 2011 and 2010. We are ready this year to reclaim our title! We are hoping to take a team of seventeen players to the National Championships, with our coach Sean. Help with funding would mean everything to our team. The funding would be used to pay for our equipment, travel to the tournament, accommodation, transport to matches, and to help pay for our stylish match jerseys, shorts and socks. We are excited to represent Cal at the national level and bring the trophy back to Berkeley. Go Bears! (or, in Irish) Na Béaranna Abú!

The Impact 

The NCGAA National Championships is the highest level of competition for a college hurling team. Our team will gain invaluable knowledge of the sport and improve our skills hugely by competing against teams from across the U.S. There is also an important social and cultural aspect to this trip, because our team will be able to meet and forge friendships with other hurling players from a variety of backgrounds. Many of our team share Irish heritage and some are international students from Ireland, so for them meeting students from other colleges who share a love for Irish sport and culture is hugely affirming. We are excited to raise the profile of hurling across the United States, and bring the sport to new audiences and potential players. As a co-ed team, our Hurling Club also plays an important role in promoting the profile of women within the sport. The NCGAA National Championship games will be televised, meaning that by participating in this event we will be widely promoting UC Berkeley and the Hurling Club at Berkeley.

How we'll use our funds:

The National College Hurling Championships will take place from 15th-18th March 2025. We will use funds raised through Berkeley Crowdfunding in the months January-March 2025, to book our travel and accommodation and buy our team uniforms in which we will play at the tournament.

Last year, we used a crowdfunding platform (GoFundMe) and direct sponsorship from local businesses to raise a total of $4,334.77 for participation in the National College Hurling Championships 2024, which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our total team expenses for this trip however totalled $5,952.89. We were not able therefore to reimburse our players fully for their travel expenses incurred to compete in the Championships. We have only been able to offer our players a flat rate rebate of $71.39 towards the cost of their flights, when all of those flights cost our players over $130, and some over $300!

We are hoping to raise $6000 this year (through a variety of funding streams) to cover all of our costs.   Approximately 50% of funds raised will be spent on travel expenses to the Championships, including flights and ground travel ($3000). Approx. 33% of funds raised will be spent on hotel accommodation ($2000). The remaining funds raised will be spent on a new match kit ($1000 quoted for full team kit of 20 players), and any funding in excess of our goals will be spent on equipment (hurling sticks, helmets and balls) for new players.

If we do not meet our goal, funds raised will still be put towards our participation in the 2025 National College Hurling Championships! We will continue fundraising through different venues and strategies throughout the year to reach our goal by various means. Thank you!

Feel free to contact us via email at calhurlingclub@gmail.com or Instagram DM @calhurling.