A yellow ‘smart’ ball will replace the traditional white sliotar for the 2020 hurling championship.
The new sliotar still has to get final approval at Central Council next month but if it gets the go ahead it would be used for next year’s Leinster and Munster Championships along with the Joe McDonagh, Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups.
The technology in the ball uses a microchip and its been tested over a period of eight years.
The new sliotar was used in the last two Fenway Classics and it’s designed to help score detection, particularly at venues that don’t have the HawkEye system.
19 November 2017; A general view of a sliotar used during the AIG Super 11’s Fenway Classic Semi-Final match between Dublin and Galway at Fenway Park in Boston, MA, USA. Photo by Brendan Moran/SportsfileGAA 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.”
19 November 2017; Paul Crummey of Dublin catches the sliotar during the AIG Super 11’s Fenway Classic Semi-Final match between Dublin and Galway at Fenway Park in Boston, MA, USA. Photo by Brendan Moran/SportsfileThe updated technology will provide data on the speed and trajectory of the sliotar in the future according to plans.
Match-day sliotars can be scanned using a smartphone app to ensure authenticity while the smart sliotar, designed by Kilkenny company Greenfields Digital Sports Technology, will be standardised to protect it from imitations.
