Plan to use GPS technology in NRL footballs to track forward passes

[Berkeley_Eagle]

CRICKET has its Eagle Eye, Snickometer and Hot Spot. Tennis has Hawk-Eye. Swimming has electronic sensors in the pool, athletics has photo finishes.

Rugby league has got its video referees to judge offside, foul play, grounding of the football and just about everything else - except for forward passes.

Now one of Australia's leading sports technology companies, GPSports Systems, is developing cutting-edge software that will ensure an accurate ruling on forward passes from next season.

It works like this ... a micro chip and battery (the size of small finger nail) is included in the layering of Steeden footballs for NRL use only. A signal is sent via satellite to computer grid in the video referee's box within a quarter of a second.

A computer alarm or beep will sound if the ball is propelled forward from a player's hands - not for passes that have been directed backwards but float forward. The video referees will alert on-field officials in a process that takes just a few seconds and will not interfere or slow down the run of play.


GPSports System spokesman Damien Hawes declined to go into great detail about his invention because the company is still in the process of getting a patent on the device.

However, he did say: "I can confirm we'll have a positional system for the football that will get down to a centimetre for accuracy and reliability of where the ball moves on the field. Our staff have been working on it for some time because it has to be robust enough to handle kicking, passing, impact in tackles and players falling on it.

"It's something we will take to the NRL during the off-season.

"There is no question it will help on the adjudication of forward passes."

Referees boss Bill Harrigan concedes at least six tries have been allowed this season from forward passes and that others have been called back from legitimate passes.

One blatant miss - when Robbie Farah passed 1m forward to Blake Ayshford in Gosford last Friday night - cost Manly the game and possibly a $100,000 bonus that comes with the minor premiership.

"Considering the number of tries scored, it's a small percentage, " Harrigan said.

"But if anyone can show us technology that is going to help our guys, I'm all for it. Umpires and referees in other sports like cricket and tennis are getting help all the time."

Channel 9 has welcomed the innovation and wants it to be part of their television broadcasts next season. "It would be a fantastic thing for television," said Nine's sports technology guru Brad McNamara.

"It will tell you exactly what angle the ball leaves a player's hands within a quarter of a second. The fans will love it and it will take enormous pressure off referees."

A spokesperson for Steeden, whose footballs are made in India, said manufacturing a football with a sensor was a possibility and said the company looked forward to having talks with GPS experts.

"It's definitely something we could look in to," brand and marketing manager Leah Curtis said. "It's something that could be included in the layering of the ball. The mechanics would have to ensure it didn't affect the performance of the football."

Harrigan said he was looking forward to being shown the new technology that could be trialled in the All Stars match in February and other pre-season matches."If this sort of technology was available and it takes pressure off the referees, I'd be all for it," he said. "If it can happen without impacting on the continuity of the game, it's something I'd love to look at."

NRL boss David Gallop said of the plan: "If it works then we would consider it - tracking devices used in cricket and tennis are terrific. Anything that is going to help our game and help our referees is worth looking at."


GPS IN FOOTY
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[SingleSpeed73]

Great Idea !! its about time we did as the mistakes on forward passes are just horrendous, borderline i can take but passes are being missed that are 1, 2 or even 3 metres forward

cant happen soon enough

 

[hitman82]

I support the idea in theory. But it would be a travesty if officials came to rely entirely upon the technology and it malfunctioned in some way resulting in incorrect calls. If proven to be reliable then sure.

 

[dangerousdave]

This would be great for the game. It's really the hardest part of rugby league to adjudicate

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

This could be dangerous. Depends how accurate it is.

 

[dangerousdave]

It's not the kind of technology that could be introduced without 100% accuracy

 

[AlwaysGreen]

It will be a beepathon. What needs to be done with forward passes is that the ref stops taking touch judges word as gospel. The state of refereeing often gets a smashing but IMO they're doing ok and are continually made to look bad by incompetent sideline officials who should do more to assist them, including keeping their noses out of things if they don't have a clue.

Trial it but to me it will just be a beeping nightmare.

 

[woodyk2]

If its proven accurate then bring it on i say.

 

[00digger00]

Not sure how accurate it could be in the big stadiums. Places like suncorp only have a limited view of the sky, so it wouldnt be able to track many sats. But if they can prove it works everywhere they are going to play a NRL game then its worth a shot.

 

[aussies1st]

Good in theory just about getting it working in practice.

 

[umina panther]

A sensor and infrared would work better

 

[Patorick]

Good news, hopefully.

 

[Twizzle]

If the rule states that the ball must not travel forward relative to the player's movement or motion forward, then all the players would need a GPS tracker as well.

The only time this could be accurate is when the players are stationary, like dummy halves.

 

[Ozzy]

This is a gee up right? No way this would work. First of all there is no way to get a signal from a satellite to an accuracy of a centimetre. GPS signals are usually about a metre error range. Secondly how would you detect the difference between a ball floating forward due to the player running forward and one that went forward from the hands?

 

[Danish]

In terms of accuracy, wouldn't it be simpler to set up a dedicated network of sensors for the stadium?

Say 1 in each cross bar, and 1 on either side of the field at halfway at the top of the grand stand?


Personally I'd be happy for this technology to be introduced in theory, however then where does it stop? Enforcing forward passes to the letter would be great, but I'd worry that a goose like Harrigan would take it further and start using it to enforce offsides etc.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

One word Eddie...momentum rule!

 

[firechild]

Great idea. I can see a few players having to change their styles to avoid being pinged for 20 forward passes a game, Thurston, Hayne and Farah come to mind.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

This is a gee up right? No way this would work. First of all there is no way to get a signal from a satellite to an accuracy of a centimetre. GPS signals are usually about a metre error range. Secondly how would you detect the difference between a ball floating forward due to the player running forward and one that went forward from the hands?

First things I thought of as well. Sounds good, but is ultimately not going to work unless each person's hands are fitted with microchips to detect which way they propel the ball because unless I'm mistaken, the rule is forward out of the hands, not floats forward after being propelled backwards.

 

[carlosthedwarf]

So who's going to be the first team to lose a game when this technology incorrectly rules a forward pass?

 

[juro]

I was thinking about this a few years ago. I'd also like to see chips in players boots to automatically detect offside.

For those worried about the amount of penalties, I would say that the players would learn pretty fast what they can't get away with, and would allow a margin of safety to minimise penalties.