GAA: Gavin Cummiskey finds at least two of hurling's big names distinctly uncomfortable with the design and behaviour of the new ball

The cliché about the bounce of a ball deciding matches is beginning to take on too literal a meaning in this year's All-Ireland series. Questions are being raised about the new, standardised sliotar, especially about its suitability to the hard Croke Park surface, and more worryingly, about injuries it might cause.

The pitch at headquarters has changed, matured even, since last year's Leinster finals. The deadness complained of initially has been replaced by an erratic bounce of the ball. The players seem fazed.

Even the most supremely talented have been struggling to get to grips with the new sliotar. Its use is not prevalent at inter-county training even though it has been in circulation for 18 months. Also, the problem is not confined to just a particular patch of grass.

"One of the nights, before we hurled against Limerick, we had a session on the Thurles pitch," says Offaly's Brian Whelahan.

"I didn't realise we were using a different ball and I couldn't believe how bad my touch was, until one of the lads told me.

"The bounce is big-time strange in the sense that it is moving faster, harder to control and springier. I couldn't control it. It was coming in low, hitting the hurl and bouncing out 10 yards in front of me. The trampoline-like effect is crazy, too bloody high in fact.

"If they are to standardise the ball they should settle on a ball that everyone is used to, with the woollen core inside, not this rubbery plastic core."

When Kilkenny came up to try out the new pitch at headquarters in advance of the 2002 Leinster final against Wexford they complained to the GAA Head of Games, Pat Daly, about the deadness of the pitch.

They were duly presented with six "unbranded" balls and told to decide on the most suitable. The headline the next day could have read: congratulations ball number three - you are the official sliotar for the 2003 championship.

Unfortunately, the ball that was suitable for Croke Park that day has been rubbing people up the wrong way elsewhere.

"It's too bouncy. The rubber core makes it like a golf ball," said former Limerick manager Eamon Cregan. "I agree there has to be a standard sliotar but this isn't the answer."

Cregan feels a more serious concern is personal safety and suggests a health warning may have to be attached to the sliotar.

"I think it's a dangerous ball. I've had a look at them and pucked them around. The ball is exploding off the hurley at a greater speed. If you think of a 20-metre free and DJ or whoever throws it in about four yards, anyone on the line could get a terrible wallop. Because of its rubber core I'd be afraid it could get through the grid on a helmet."

Thankfully, the present model is not necessarily the final solution. Daly is pushing for a new, standardised core to be in place before next year's championship. The secondary goal is to have all-leather sliotars as distinct from synthetic.

"We will continue to look at it. There are refinements all the time in technology across all sports. Our priority is for the integrity of the game, and the ball, to be upheld. To satisfy everybody is a Utopian aspiration but with the one ball at present we are at least happy to have a level playing field."

For five years now material design expert Lorcan Hassett, the captain of the 1997 All-Ireland club champions, Doora-Barefield, has been overseeing the design of a new ball, based in Dublin City University. Daly is adamant they are moving in the right direction while at the same time keeping the production of balls an open market.

"We want to get an official core and it is not at the expense of putting the 'cottage industry' out of business. We had to move because of the abysmal quality of balls coming in from places like Pakistan. But we are not going to be propping up any one supplier. We're not closing down the market, we're opening it up."

Daly insisted no set deal is in place with O'Neill's. He further indicated that a licence may be required to produce sliotars as well as footballs in the future, the applicant having to agree to defined standards.

This would at last completely level the playing field, no matter what the surface.