Plans for ‘smart’ sliotar shelved until at least 2020

The GAA’s plans to launch a smart sliotar have been put back to next year, at the earliest, as it undergoes a further battery of tests.

It had been hoped the new standardised, microchipped ball would be ready for market before March this year.

However, designers are not yet satisfied that the new sliotar incorporating the technology can withstand the stress of being hit regularly. The embedded readable microchip will allow the GAA to detect which sliotars are officially licenced and can be used.

The process has been an exhaustive one but the GAA’s games development department are determined to see it through as they tackle the unregulated sliotar market so that they can guarantee consistency in performance from ball to ball.

The luminous yellow ball used in November’s Super 11s games in Boston, produced by Kilkenny company Green Fields DST, had a readable chip in the core and is expected to be standardised by the GAA.

The microchip, which is similar to that used in a credit card, will also provide information on the speed of the sliotar, the distances it travels and may also produce details such as spin and trajectory.

There are also hopes it could make score detection easier than is the case.

HawkEye, which is in place in Croke Park and Semple Stadium, have always acknowledged that hurling is hugely challenging because of the size of the ball and the speed with which it is hit.

GAA authorities has also not ruled out the possibility of a rimless sliotar being given the green light in the coming years.