Football needs TMOs — and quickly

Last November George Hook took exception to Croke Park’s opposition to the introduction of a TV match official (TMO). Writing in his Mayo News column, he referred to this column in which we outlined the GAA’s reluctance to use a TMO.

“Just last week, a report in the Irish Examiner offered that as long as there are grey areas associated with a TV match official, the GAA won’t consider it. Have you ever heard such rubbish in your entire life? The crux of this argument is that, if there is a chance that a TV camera won’t pick up a decision, either way, then what’s the point in having it? It is this dark-age approach to conventional wisdom that sometimes sets the GAA apart from the rest of the world.

“Nobody has ever insisted that a television match official will get every decision correct, 100% of the time. But to dismiss the idea that GAA referees should get the help they need to do their job to the best of their ability because of the odd ‘what if’ scenario is crazy.”