Concerns of ‘tactical use of substitutes’ led to rethink on clock/hooter system

The GAA identified a range of concerns around the proposed introduction of the clock/hooter system including “a real fear that the tactical use of substitutes could be used to count down the clock in the closing stages of a very close game”.

There was also “the potential for confusion and controversy around when a game (or indeed a half) formally ends” and if a team ended up losing a game in such circumstances, “the reputational damage to the Association – not to mention possible legal challenges within or without our own rulebook – would be enormous”.

These concerns were contained in the report presented to Saturday’s meeting of Central Council, and resulted the clock/hooter system being postponed until the 2015 championship at the earliest. The report was based on concluding trials carried out during the recent Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cup finals, and was presented by Feargal McGill, the GAA’s head of games administration and player welfare.

While noting “the experiment worked reasonably well”, the report also identified “definite confusion – particularly among spectators, but also backroom teams – as to what the clock should be stopped for”.

It also reports that while match officials were by and large indifferent to the clock, they did not feel it made their job any easier; if anything they felt the necessity to signal to the line when a stoppage was required was an additional burden.

'Tactical expoitation'
With regard to substitutions, the report identified that "it quickly became clear in the course of the trial that this opened the clock/hooter system up to tactical exploitation by teams if so desired". As a result, the recommendation is that the playing rules should be changed to ensure the clock is stopped either for all substitutions made or for any substitutions being made in the last five minutes of a game.

It was also decided that in order for the clock/hooter system to operate effectively, radio communication between the referee and the fifth official was deemed vital.

This will incur an additional cost of €5000 per annum, an amount deemed “insignificant compared to the potential reputational risk to the Association if such a step is not taken and a major mistake is made in a championship game because of it”.

The most serious concern was the potential for confusion and controversy around when a game (or indeed a half) formally ends. While the current rule states it does so on “the sounding of a hooter”, this had the potential for a range of controversies – including when exactly the hooter should sound.

“For example, if a player is standing over a free, should the hooter sound regardless of whether he is in the process of taking it or not? Might the hooter potentially be blamed for a player missing an All-Ireland winning free?”

As a result, the report recommends that the playing rules should be changed to allow the end of any game where the clock/hooter is being used “to be the point at which the ball next goes out of play after the clock has reached the end of playing time”.