Croke Park to debut Hawk-Eye

GAELIC GAMES:Next week's league double-header will be used as a trial run with the technology, writes GAVIN CUMMISKEY

THE GAA have confirmed that Hawk-Eye’s “score detection technology”, to be trialled at Croke Park during Dublin’s football and hurling National League encounters against Down and Kilkenny tomorrow week, will not be considered for implementation into law at next month’s annual Congress.

With feasibility testing expected to take several weeks, the technology, already embraced by tennis and cricket, cannot be introduced by the GAA until a vote at the 2012 Congress.

The trial in football and hurling next week is primarily to “determine the logistics of positioning and installation of equipment in Croke Park”, the GAA stated.

It will not be part of the match-day scoring, nor will the officials have the option to refer to it for confirmation of goals or points.

“This is the next step in the feasibility study which will be presented to Ard Comhairle which will ultimately determine whether or not the technology is deemed suitable for use with Gaelic games,” said GAA president Christy Cooney.

The Cork man has expressed personal reservations about introducing such technology, despite an overwhelming majority of players advocating its use in a GPA survey conducted last year.

The successful adoption of Hawk-Eye by the GAA could have far-reaching effects, including acting as a gateway into soccer for the British company which developed it, Roke Manor Research Ltd, in Romsey, Hampshire, in 2001.

Before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal for England against Germany would have been allowed if Hawk-Eye had been available, the technology’s founder, Dr Paul Hawkins, stated: “The catalyst for it coming into tennis was a few poor officiating mistakes in the US Open, 2004. The football horizon may well change as a catalyst of controversial goal-line incidents.”

The firm’s managing director, Steve Carter, added yesterday: “As part of our relationship with Uefa and further testing over the next 12 months we have signed an agreement with them that prohibits us talking about the details.”

Despite being equally bound at the current juncture of their relationship with the GAA, Carter added: “We went through a very rigorous testing process with the ITF in tennis, and cricket too. Technologically, (Gaelic games) does have its specific challenges. From a business perspective, we are obviously delighted the GAA are interested.”

The International Football Association Board – the body that determines the laws of soccer – approved Hawk-Eye’s development work in 2007, but Uefa president Michel Platini has resisted moves towards a formal trial, instead introducing the use of extra officials on the goal-line this season.

“I think generally when we have discussed the debate there is a very strong correlation between the age of a person and their support of technology,” said Hawkins last year. “Younger people who have grown up with technology and see it not as an enemy or something to be in fear of see it as an accepted part of our everyday lives. They are much more welcoming to use technology to assist us.”

Installation costs at major provincial grounds would be another concern for the GAA, but this has been offset in other sports by sponsorship and commercial rights for Hawk-Eye on big screens.

The technology is already an established part of cricket for lbw calls and tennis for line calls. Initial concerns that it would slow up both sports were not realised, and the video replay has been ingrained into each game’s entertainment value.

Human errors by officials have been radically decreased, although occasional flaws do remain. Tomas Berdych, during the 2009 Australia Open match against Roger Federer, challenged an “out” call, but Hawk-Eye didn’t work due to a large shadow on the court, so the call was upheld.

The majority of clay courts, including the French Open, do not use the technology as there is a visible mark left by the ball.

The lbw decision in cricket has been transformed as Hawk-Eye is able to say with virtual certainty if the ball would have hit the stumps.

Sony confirmed the take over of Hawk-Eye earlier this month. The purchase included all intellectual property rights and staff. The company made a profit of €1.2 million last year with a projected turnover of €2 million in the following 12 months mainly due to its expanded usage in tennis.

What is Hawk-Eye?

HAWK-EYE is a computer system that has been adopted by several sports, including professional cricket and tennis, to track the path of the ball and display a record of its most statistically likely path as a moving image to counteract human error.

It uses the principles of triangulation with four high-speed cameras. The system generates a graphic image of the ball's path and playing area, which can provide accurate information to referees, judges, television viewers and coaches in near real time.

It would not resolve the Joe Sheridan goal controversy that marred last year's Leinster football final, when the Meath footballer clearly carried the ball into the Louth net, as this was human error and not a goal-line incident.

It would resolve issues relating to the ball or sliotar crossing the goal-line or bisecting the uprights for a point (a common concern in hurling, an example being Joe Canning's non-point against Offaly in the championship last summer).