Introduction of TMO unlikely after Saturday’s Central Council meeting

The GAA is not expected to introduce a television match official (TMO) to its games despite the matter being discussed at Saturday’s Central Council meeting.

That discussion fuelled speculation that the association may be about to follow rugby and soccer in introducing a replay function to assist match officials in reaching decisions.

It was revealed that a number of “silent trials” had been conducted during the summer at football and hurling championship matches.

There is sometimes confusion over the separate issues of score detection and other aspects of play, such as aggressive fouls or technical fouls in the lead-up to scores.

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At present score detection technology has been in place for more than 10 years since the installation of Hawk-Eye, which adjudicates on points if requested by the umpires or advised by the TMO.

In the recent All-Ireland club hurling final, an early incident deprived O’Loughlin Gaels of a goal when a shot from Owen Wall was deemed to have been stopped on the line by St Thomas’ full back Fintan Burke, but television pictures indicated that the ball had briefly ended up over the goal-line before being cleared.

GAA sources say that Hawk-Eye would not necessarily be the answer to that issue. The score detection system is based on a number of angles from cameras mounted on top of the Hogan and Cusack Stands, which capture the flight of the ball.

The problem with applying this to the goal-line is that umpires are meant to stand beside their respective posts for optimal positioning and would therefore potentially block the camera’s view.

These matters were referred to a TMO work group, which has nearly concluded its work with a final report due to issue very soon. On Saturday, it was asked to update Central Council and brief on its findings to date, which it did but there was no recommendation for the introduction of television assistance for referees.

The purpose of the preliminary briefing was to allow some feedback from delegates before the report is finalised.

The work group took the opportunity to summarise their reservations on the question of a TMO. This included the views of the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), who felt that it would lead to lengthy delays in play.

It was also felt that the system would be impractical to install for all intercounty matches as opposed to big championship fixtures in Croke Park. The experience of other sports was referenced and how the technology had caused problems as well as solving them in the core objective of “eliminating controversy”.

The views of current intercounty referees on the matter was reported as “mixed”.

It was trialled at nine championship matches last summer, three hurling and six football.

The work group reported that it had been possible to install a TMO providing there was a minimum of five cameras but even then, they wouldn’t necessarily capture everything that happened on the pitch, which would militate against its comprehensive use for off the ball incidents.

Other apprehensions included the possibility that referees would become less likely to make decisions and that its introduction would mean “no going back”.

Overall, the main issue appears to be the impact on the flow of matches. Soccer stops for long periods to allow referees to readjudicate video footage and the same is true of rugby but at least the latter sport features many breaks in play for set pieces.

At what point does the action get stopped? For instance, in the club hurling final St Thomas’ scored a point 36 seconds after the incident in their goal mouth. It was only after that Éanna Burke score that the TG4 cameras caught up to replay the incident.

Football and especially hurling move quickly and feature plenty of scores so calling play back would create problems in itself.

Although the work group has gone off to finalise its report, there was little in the discussion with Central Council to indicate that delegates had a notably more positive view about TMO.

Publication is said to be imminent and the work group was keen to take a final temperature from counties given the significant change due next month when Jarlath Burns takes over the presidency and in light of the consequent turnover in Croke Park committee membership.

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