ANOTHER PAIR OF EYES

Clamour grows to bring in video aid

IT is in the fifth minute of injury time and Mayo have both their feet planted in the All-Ireland final when they get sucker-punched.

It comes out of nowhere. The Television Match Official, who is duty bound to review all straight red cards, confirms that the one which David Gough has just shown Kieran Donaghy is a darker shade of red after the Kerry fullforward strikes into the face of Aidan O’Shea.

But his eagle-eye also picks up on his screen O’Shea provocatively, deliberately and painfully standing on Donaghy’s foot, teasing out the Kerry player’s brutish response.

He informs Gough that another serious incident may have been missed and the Meath official makes his way to the Hogan Stand sideline monitor where, after studying footage concludes that O’Shea’s actions amount to a deliberate stamp and flashes a red card.

In that moment, Mayo, in the knowledge that their talisman will be missing for the final, know that their latest quest for the Holy Grail is dead and buried.

This is not an entire work of fiction, but is based on a true and contemporary story.

Donaghy revealed in a blog in the aftermath of last August’s AllIreland semi-final replay that he had ‘fallen’ for O’Shea’s ‘dark arts’ while television footage, although it had to be magnified, suggested that the Mayo player had stood on his Kerry opponent.

The one thing missing, of course, was the TMO, but perhaps that won’t be for long.

‘We will see it sooner rather than later. I would say you could see it in the next three years, we certainly won’t be waiting 20 years,’ John Bannon, secretary of the Leinster Council referees committee, said last week.

It may be human to err, but it doesn’t sit well in these unforgiving times.

This week English soccer explored the possibility for the first time that a television match official could become a referee’s best friend.

For years FIFA, admittedly never shy in going backwards, railed against the use of Video Assistant Referees (VAR), but it is now expected that referees at this summer’s World Cup in Russia will have another pair of eyes looking out for them.

It has long been embraced by cricket — where it has all but rid the game of the erroneous umpiring decisions which had been a blight – and rugby union, too.

The concept of a TMO may not yet have been accepted by the GAA at the highest level, but to those it would benefit most, there is a growing clamour for its introduction.

At a national referees meeting in 2016, those convened gave their tacit approval for the GAA to investigate the merits of a TMO.

Bannon, who took charge of the 1998 and 2002 All-Ireland football finals, believes that the argument for its introduction gets stronger by the year.

‘The main thing is to get the decision right and referees would back anything that would facilitate that,’ suggested the Longford man.

‘I don’t think that would have been the consensus 10 years ago, but in that time we have seen the introduction of Hawk-Eye and that has been a game-changer.

‘Initially I would not have been in favour of it, but anything, once it is 100 per cent accurate, that can be seen to help referees in their decision-making is very hard to argue against.

‘Whether that comes in the form of more assistance from other officials or by the introduction of technology then it would have to be considered,’ argues Bannon.

In one swoop the introduction of the point detection technology in 2013 killed off the old argument that any change would have to be a universal one for it to be acceptable within the GAA.

The technology involved in equipping a TMO would be less challenging than Hawk-Eye, and it could be engaged from provincial finals — where a multiple of television angles are available – onwards.

The GAA’s reluctance to embrace it is mainly sourced in concerns that it will be too disruptive to the flow of games.

The other issue concerns where the parameters would be set for its engagement.

In soccer, it is limited to penalties, straight red cards, goals and cases of mistaken identity.

Those parameters may not transfer as neatly to GAA. After all, goals are defining in soccer whereas in football and hurling, they are significant but, perhaps,

‘We will see it sooner rather than later and maybe within the next three years’

not always so decisive.

It could be argued that reviews be restricted to penalties, straight red cards and black cards.

Further to that, aping America’s NFL, team managers could be equipped with two referrals per game to the TMO, thereby addressing any perceived injustice that may fall in between those defined cracks.

While it would mean interruptions to game-time, it could also add to the spectacle as it would represent a test of a manager’s judgement as to when he puts those limited referrals to best use.

Of course, the TMO is no silver bullet, not least in Gaelic football where the lack of a defined tackle means there are vast swathes of grey in a sport which has physical contact at its core.

‘How would you apply it to a black card,’ queries Bannon.

‘I know there have been instances where referees have convened for review meetings and after half an hour would still be arguing as to whether a particular incident merited a black card or not, so I don’t think that a TMO will resolve that inside a minute.’

Perhaps not, but on those occasions when the light comes in twotoned shades of black or white, it could illuminate.

And the promise of that will ensure that the calls for its introduction will not be silenced.