GAMECHANGERS IN SPORT - Number 1 HAWK-EYE

September 15th, 2020

As we are called Recruitment GAMECHANGERS we thought it would be appropriate to write some informative blogs about other GAMECHANGERS in both business and within the sport and gaming world.

We are kicking off with a technology-based business that has revolutionised both tennis and cricket. Hawk-Eye now works with no less than 8 different sports to visually track the trajectory of the ball and display a profile of its statistically most likely path as a moving image.

The Sony-owned Hawk-Eye system was developed in the UK by Paul Hawkins. The system was originally implemented in 2001 for television purposes in cricket. The system works via six (sometimes seven) high-performance cameras, normally positioned on the underside of the stadium roof, which track the ball from different angles. The video from the six cameras is then triangulated and combined to create a three-dimensional representation of the ball's trajectory. Hawk-Eye is not infallible but is accurate to within 3.6 millimetres and generally trusted as an impartial second opinion in sports. It has been accepted by governing bodies in tennis, cricket and association football as a means of adjudication.

Hawk-Eye is used for the Challenge System since 2006 in tennis and Umpire Decision Review System in cricket since 2009. The system was rolled out for the 2013–14 Premier League season as a means of goal-line technology. In December 2014 the clubs of the first division of Bundesliga decided to adopt this system for the 2015–16 season.

Find out more on their site

 https://www.hawkeyeinnovations.com/about

In both cricket and tennis, the system has been a huge benefit to the spectators in the venues and the outcome is eagerly awaited. Who knows, if it had been around in John McEnroe’s day the tantrums may have been far less explosive!


Doug Woodward

doug@recgc.com