The GAA have launched a smart sliotar, to be trialled in this year’s under-20 All-Ireland championship, beginning in April. At the official launch in Croke Park on Thursday, the purpose of the microchip was explained as providing a system of authentication.
President Larry McCarthy hoped that the move would be, “a step in the right direction in terms of maintaining the integrity of the game”. It is thought to be the first field sport in the world to use a microchip in its ball for traceability purposes.
Work on standardising the sliotar goes back to 2003 and has been guided in that time by the GAA’s director of games administration and research Pat Daly and Professor Kieran Moran, professor of biomechanics at DCU, both of whom were on the work group, which is chaired by Kilkenny’s Ned Quinn.
It is hoped that if the under-20 trial goes well, the new sliotars will be introduced to senior and all other intercounty championship hurling in 2023. In the upcoming trials, a ‘sliotar bin’ of 24 unbranded balls will be checked and supplied to each team.
Two companies expressed interest in producing the smart sliotars, O’Neills and PDMR (Greenfields) and they will supply the under-20 matches.
Using smart technology will enable the association to monitor and enforce the standardisation of specifications for the ball. Referees will be able to scan the sliotar with a mobile phone to verify that it’s approved.
It will not be used for score detection, as Professor Moran pointed out that the size of chip required would alter the dynamic of the ball.
According to the GAA press release, the purpose is:
“In an effective regulatory context, it seeks to address illegal use of the official GAA logo and meets ethical production and supply chain practices as determined by the World Federation of the Sports Goods Industry (WFSGI).
“A tag or chip is embedded in the core of the Smart Sliotar which can be read by an app on a mobile phone and can be verified as being an official match ball.”
Association president Larry McCarthy outlined how he had set up the work group on taking office a year ago.
“I had no idea the science involved, no idea of the background and no knowledge of the work that Kieran and Pat Daly had been doing for a many, many years. So I asked Ned to chair the committee and he came together with Louise (Conlon) and Brendan (Cummins) and Eoin (McDonagh) and others and this is the result of it.
“I think it’s a work in progress in terms of making sure we have integrity in the sliotar, integrity in our equipment, and, perhaps most importantly, in our manufacturing systems: that we’re not using child labour or anything around the world that would be incorrect because most of them come from Sailkot in Pakistan.”
Although McCarthy’s concerns were initially about the distance the sliotar was travelling there has been very little change to the new specifications.
Professor Moran was asked was the new standard sliotar heavier.
“No. In general, just so you know, if you produce a ball that’s slightly heavier, it will travel farther. People have a perception that if you produce a lighter ball it will travel further, but it’s the opposite. If it’s a heavier ball it travels further because it’ll knock the air molecules out of the way if you want to get into the science of it.”
The new spec was accepted into rule at the GAA’s recent annual congress in Mayo by a vote of 97 per cent.
It is not envisaged that the smart sliotar will be used for club fixtures in the immediate term although they will be subject to the new specifications. Asked how that would be enforced, Ned Quinn said that monitoring and enforcement would be at manufacturing level.
“No, it’s the supplier we’d be onto. Everyone has to re-apply to be licensed now. Based on that and continually sending in batches of balls. Are we saying it’s going to be absolutely foolproof? No we’re not.”
Work on the project involved remote committee meetings and field trials, featuring committee member and Tipperary All-Ireland winner Brendan Cummins, who tested the sliotars with Dublin goalkeeper Alan Nolan and a number of club players.
Sliotar Work Group: Ned Quinn (Kilkenny) Chair, Louise Conlon (Camogie Association Technical Development and Participation Manager), Brendan Cummins (Tipperary), Eoin McDonagh (Galway), Bob Ryan (Cork), Terry Reilly (Antrim), Declan Fitzgerald (DMF Technology), Professor Kieran Moran (DCU), Pat Daly (Croke Park)
