Irish Independent
Friday September 12th 2003

THIS 'new' sliotar has been one of the biggest talking points of the season but Croke Park officials insist it's not actually new.

It was used in last year's All-Ireland final, this year's NHL finals and in any championship games under GAC control this season.

It emerged initially because of complaints about the 'dead' bounce on the new Croke Park last year.

Intermittent suspicions about 'ball-tampering' in some quarters and complaints about some dodgy imports which were found to have nails in their central cork core also prompted it.

UCG researchers were already working on producing a standardised core and dimensions (weight, seam height, leather quality etc).

That research is continuing now in DCU but the authorities say they are far from settled on a final product.

Compared to the traditional cork centre, covered by thread, three other variants are now being sold.

Two have cork compounds, mixed with rubber or resin, but the O'Neills one being favoured at present has no cork in it, only a polyurethane core.

The authorities say they opted for this model 18 months ago because it was the one Kilkenny's players preferred from six unmarked prototypes they practised with when they came to try out Croker ahead of last year's Leinster Final.

They refute allegations of a deal with O'Neills, insisting that when the perfect sliotar 'spec' emerges, the GAA will licence any distributor who uses their approved materials and dimensions.

Research on this new ball proves that it certainly bounces higher; 5cm when dropped from the same height of 1.7m but only travels up to 10 yards further.

"People say make it heavier but in solving one problem you'll create another. Also Croke Park, Wexford, Navan and Cavan are all sand-based pitches and a ball will perform differently on them, so it may be a case of developing different balls for different surfaces," he stressed.

Both counties have agreed to use it this weekend and all future prototypes will get a much wider testing.