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GAA set to introduce yellow sliotar for 2020 Championship

Next year's hurling championship could see the introduction of a yellow 'smart' ball to replace t...
Phil Egan
Phil Egan

08.19 10 Dec 2019


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GAA set to introduce yellow sl...

GAA set to introduce yellow sliotar for 2020 Championship

Phil Egan
Phil Egan

08.19 10 Dec 2019


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Next year's hurling championship could see the introduction of a yellow 'smart' ball to replace the traditional white sliotar.

The new sliotar still has to be approved at Central Council next month but if it gets the green light it would be used for next year's Leinster and Munster Championships as well as the Joe McDonagh, Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups.

The technology in the ball uses a microchip and has passed a series of rigorous tests during the last 8 years.

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It has been trialed at the last two Fenway Classics and it is hoped the smart ball will help score detection, especially at venues that don't have the HawkEye system available.

GAA director of games development Pat Daly told the Irish Independent:

"We had to try and make sure that we were happy with the ball and then we were happy with the technology and increasingly we're getting there.

"It's standing up to the type of tests that we've subjected it to. I remember when we started out with Hawk-Eye that people were saying 'you're pretty slow', we are because we want to make sure it works.

"That's the same with what we're doing here. We're tentatively talking about next year's championship but there's a few things that have to happen in January and February for that to happen as well.

"That's what we're proposing, we have been at it eight years and the time has come to press the button and push this on."

In the future, it is also hoped the embedded technology will be able to provide data on the speed and trajectory of the sliotar.

Match-day balls can be scanned using a smartphone app to ensure they are authenticy and the smart sliotar – which is produced by Kilkenny company Greenfields Digital Sports Technology – will be standardised to ensure that it is not imitated.


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GAA Leinster Hurling Championship Munster Hurling Championship Sliotar

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