It has emerged that more inter-county referees across the country will be wearing the same space-age vest that Paddy Russell wore recently in next year's national league to record scientific data. Russell wore the vest while refereeing the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final between Armagh and Wexford at Croke Park as part of a ground-breaking experiment with the American Department of Defence. Head of the School of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University, Professor Niall Moyna, explained that the vests were worn by Russell and his two linesmen to track their movements through GPS (Global Position System). Moyna said: "Cameras were fixed on the individuals to track their movement via satellite. We haven't analysed all of the data yet but the GPS system tracked their heart-rate and respiration, along with the standing, sprinting and jogging he did during the game. The vest gives us the information and the psychological data which we can then use to design referee training programmes." Both the Staff at DCU and the GAA's referees' association have been working together in the hope using the vests on a larger scale, with national league games on the agenda for next years "In five years' time, every single sports jersey will have this embedded in them," confirmed Moyna. Tweet

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