Leading inter-county referee David Gough has urged caution against any future introduction of a TMO or video assistant into Gaelic games.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport, the Meath man said that his position has evolved on the issue in recent times, offering up the recent Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and New Zealand as a tale of caution.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Gough said that retiring referee Wayne Barnes was "abdicating his responsibility" with some key decisions in the match, including Sam Cane's upgraded red card, being made in the TMO bunker rather than by the English official on the pitch.
Gough admitted that in the past that he would have welcomed more technological assistance, but said that his mind has been changing.
"I have said in the past that I would have [welcomed assistance] but having watched what's happening now in soccer and the very fine margins they’re looking at in relation to offside, we’re talking millimetres here, it’s going to come down at some point to maybe not a serious infraction like a red-card infraction, but something simple like steps, which is very hard for us to police.
"Steps happen every four to five seconds and it starts again for four to five seconds and it starts again. How stringent do you want that policed?
"If we do bring in a VAR or TMO, where does it stop?"
Gough also hit out at the lack of consultation between officials and rule-makers when it comes to the laws of Gaelic football.
A meeting of the GAA's Ard Chomhairle at Croke Park on Saturday considered proposals from the standing committee on playing rules, and from the sliotar and hurley regulation workgroup, but Gough said that the document containing proposed rule changes was only disclosed to referees on Friday.
Gough also said that referees had been promised a say in rule changes in football, but such opportunities were ultimately not being afforded to them.
"The elite referees panel have not met the standing committee on playing rules," said Gough.
"They have been in position now for almost six years, some of them, we’ve never met them.
"When we met Tom Ryan [GAA Ard Stiúrthóir] in June of 2022 we were promised that there would be no introduction of new rules without meaningful consultation with the elite referees panel.
"We now have two incidents in the past year where referees have not been consulted and rules have been tried to be brought in without fully consulting with the people that are going to be implementing them."
Watch the Leinster Football Club Championship quarter-final, Eire Og v Kilmacud Crokes, on Saturday from 7.30pm live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
