Clock-hooter will only apply to Division 1 football games this weekend

Countdown clock in operation in top flight for first two rounds before being rolled out.

WHAT A HOOT: The clock/hooter will only apply to Allianz Division 1 football games for the first two rounds, the Irish Examiner can confirm. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE.

The clock/hooter will only apply to Allianz Division 1 football games for the first two rounds, the Irish Examiner can confirm.

As part of the new suite of rules, the countdown clock will be in operation in this opening weekend but only in the top flight’s fixtures at Pearse Stadium (Galway v Armagh), O’Neills Healy Park (Tyrone v Derry), Croke Park (Dublin v Mayo) on Saturday and Fitzgerald Stadium (Kerry v Donegal on Sunday.

It will be used in the following weekend’s Division 1 football matches in Box-It Athletic Grounds (Armagh v Tyrone) and MacCumhaill Park (Donegal v Dublin) on Saturday, February 1 and in Celtic Park (Derry v Kerry) and Hastings Insurance McHale Park (Mayo v Galway) on Sunday, February 2, before being rolled out to the lower divisions starting with Division 2 in later rounds.

An extra match official will be required at some venues to administer the clock/hooter meaning six in total will be required – referee, two linesmen, two umpires, fourth official and clock official – and seven in Croke Park where a HawkEye official communicates with the referee regarding score detection.

An upgrading of facilities is required in several grounds before the countdown clock can go live but it is envisaged the clock/hooter will be in operation across all four divisions by the end of March.

On Saturday, Central Council signed off on the clock/hooter protocol. A referee will signal when the clock is to be stopped by crossing his hands overhead and blowing the whistle.

The clock is stopped for injuries that require on-field treatment, the issuing of cards, all substitutions, melees and for deliberate or incidental delay. He requests time to resume by winding one arm and whistling.

Arising from experiences adjudging the three-up rule in recent football challenge games, in the event a referee alters his decision before blowing his whistle to restart the game a throw-in will be awarded if neither team is in possession of the ball.

Should a team have the ball when the whistle is sounded, they will be awarded a free from the position at which the play was stopped unless it is inside the opponents’ 13-metre line when a non-direct free will be given on the 13m line opposite the point where the game was halted.

The use of vanishing foam in football to distinguish where a free should be taken was also given the green light at Central Council.