Hawk-Eye has its wings clipped

Hopes that the GAA was set to introduce goal-line technology have been put on ice this morning. The association has unequivocally dismissed the idea that the 'Hawk-eye' system would be trialled at this year's All Ireland club finals.

Rumours emerged yesterday that the virtual replay system, invented by Paul Hawkins, would be rolled out at Croke Park on St Patricks day. However Cumann Luthchleas Gael was quick to issue a statement indicating that they had no plans to test on competitive games.

"The GAA can confirm that at the December 11th meeting of Coiste Bainistí (Management Committee) a full feasibility study on the possible use of score detection technology was sanctioned," said the statement, "and this is expected to be completed before May."

"It was not envisaged at any stage that any such system would be used for the AIB GAA All Ireland club finals in March, or for games in the 2011 season, and reports to the contrary are inaccurate. The roll out of the feasibility study will continue in the months ahead and no final decision will be taken on its possible use before further discussion at Coiste Bainistí and Ard Chomhairle (Central Council)."

Hawk-Eye operations director, Steve Carter appeared confident that after a three week trial, his system would need only minor tweaks to meet the need of Gaelic games:

"We've sent Paul Hawkins over to Ireland and he's carrying out a reccie of Croke Park" said Carter, "to make sure that when all the equipment goes in there, everything will work when we eventually turn up to install."

"As I understand it, the plan is to install the systems in Croke Park for a period of about three weeks while we test the systems, fine tune them and make sure it will meet the unique demands that Gaelic games - especially hurling - place upon our technology"

FIFA have faced calls for goal-line technology for well over a decade but have stubbornly resisted the change. Soccer's governing body have hid behind a variety of excuses from: Disrupting the flow of the game, to a concern over a disparity of rules from grass roots to the top level.

But in relation to the latter; long suffering fans have long held the view that the biggest games should have the facility to get the right decisions made, if a match has 5, 10 or 20 cameras trained on every incident then surely one of them should be available to the referee.

Insiders at Croke Park have cast doubt over the games evolution by taking a leaf out of Sepp Blatter's book, insisting that the system must be available to all 32 county grounds on the island.

"If this type of technology was to be introduced, it couldn't apply at Croke Park alone. We couldn't have one set of rules for games at Croke Park and another for games elsewhere." said GAA Director General Paraic Duffy.

These sentiments were echoed by National Referees Committee chairman Mick Curley:  "One of the problems with video technology is deciding where it begins and ends."

The prospect of installing Hawk-eye to 32 grounds, many of whom barely see Championship action from one end of the year to the next, is likely to be the biggest stumbling block for the move. Particularly in an economic climate where; all businesses, let alone volunteer organisations, are operating on minimal funds.

"There's also the matter of cost" proclaimed Duffy. "Is it commercially viable to install it all over the country? These are the issues that have to be addressed, which is why we're undertaking the feasibility study."