Duffy says Hawk-Eye will be in place next year

GAA DIRECTOR general Páraic Duffy has confirmed Croke Park will adopt Hawk-Eye in time for the All-Ireland club finals next March. The initial plan for the technology, to detect whether a score is legitimate, was to be unveiled last June but a number of glitches forced a postponement.

Duffy revealed yesterday these problems have since been resolved. “We’ve been testing Hawk-Eye all summer and we’re actually really happy the way it is coming on,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s not ready for this year but we have made a huge improvement over the summer in terms of tackling the issue. We are absolutely confident it will be in place for next year’s championship.

“There are all sorts of issues that wouldn’t have arisen with tennis and cricket (other sports that already have Hawk-Eye in place) but we are confidant of getting there. We have used it every game as part of the test process.”

The director general also confirmed Hawk-Eye will be confined to Croke Park, and therefore is not expected to be rolled out until the championship enters the All-Ireland knockout phase and not for Leinster championship matches at GAA headquarters.

“It’ll definitely be in operation for next year’s championship, and I’d say from St Patrick’s Day on it will hopefully be ready to go.”

Developed by British engineers at Roke Manor Research Ltd in Hampshire, Hawk-Eye, purchased by Sony in March 2011, is a computer system that tracks the trajectory of the ball and displays a record of its most statistically likely path as a moving image.

Teething problems included inaccurate reading of whether a point had been scored due to the wind shaking the goal posts, the height of the posts and the speed of delivering a judgment.

“We’re very happy that all the issues have been addressed,” Duffy continued. “Things like the wind, the height and the posts wouldn’t arise elsewhere, but we’re happy that they’ve been resolved.”

Duffy, speaking yesterday at the launch of the 40th annual FBD Kilmacud Crokes Sevens tournament, when he paid tribute to the late Kilmacud football chairman Tom Murphy’s contribution to the GAA, also confirmed a full house for the All-Ireland hurling final replay on Sunday week.

“Effectively, it’s sold out already because the counties have taken up their allocations. We thought there mightn’t be the same demand, traditionally there isn’t as big a demand for a replay, but this year there isn’t a doubt in the world it will be sold out, possibly because it’s €50 instead of €80 (for a stand ticket) but it will be a sell-out. There’s no question about that.”

Meanwhile, Donegal County Board chairman PJ McGowan stated yesterday that the extra €5 placed on the 12,362 tickets allocated to the Ulster champions for Sunday’s All-Ireland football final is an optional payment.

Duffy had stated counties had recently been instructed not to put a levy on ticket prices, but McGowan insisted the €5 on top of the full ticket price was to enter into a raffle, with the funds raised going to the players training fund.

“We don’t have a levy,” said McGowan. “It’s a specific draw, priced at €5 that our clubs can sell off in groups of three. First prize is €1,000. We can’t keep tickets from clubs if they refuse to pay the additional €5.

“There has been mixed reaction from the clubs,” McGowan admitted. “Some are happy, others unhappy. But the money raised is going to the players training fund so we hope the Donegal supporters will get behind the idea.”

Earlier yesterday Duffy stated: “We outlawed levies a few years ago. It was a practice of the past and we stopped that. This summer we heard whispers of it starting again so we reissued that instruction about six weeks ago telling counties they can’t impose a levy. That was as clear as could be. I don’t want to comment on Donegal until I get the facts of the case but there was a clear instruction given to the counties.”