This World Cup was always likely to herald a new era of technology in football. With 3D, HD, super slow-mo and all sorts of other whizzy gizmos at our disposable it is little wonder that refereeing decisions are once again under the spotlight. We can see every muscle ripple, every bead of sweat glisten – there is no place to hide from the prying eyes of technology.
Yet for some absurd reason we deny access to this technology to the men who matter, the referees. We can sit at home replaying and analysing from the comfort of the lazy-boy, while the poor old ref gets no help whatsoever, inevitably makes a mistake and then gets a barrage of abuse. Who would be a referee?
The writing was on the wall when FIFA went through this exercise after a world-wide TV audience watched Thierry Henry handle the ball—with no call from the referee—before scoring a goal that enabled France to prevent Ireland from qualifying for the World Cup. Yet FIFA swept it under the carpet and now we have a tournament where the referees will be remembered for little more than their terrific blunders. Goals from offside positions, basketball skills in the penalty area and balls crossing the goal line by a clear foot – why is this still happening? With all the cash he’s plundered from the South Africans, perhaps Sepp and his merry men can now do something useful for the game.
FIFA introduced the fair play awards. For what? So that we can watch players like Suarez parry the ball off the goal line as if he was playing beach volleyball? Many argue that controversy has always been a part of the game – this is true. FIFA are probably secretly relishing all the controversy – it has always fuelled football. But that doesn’t make it right. And now under the unflinching gaze of technology we see that cheating is overtaking skill as the ultimate match winner. What happened in the Uruguay v Ghana game was insufferable. Ironically however, in that match, the referee made the correct decision. He issued a penalty kick and a red card to Suarez, but the Ghanaians missed the penalty. Technology wouldn’t have helped and this highlights the difficulties that lie ahead. Rule changes need to run alongside technology. We need penalty goals rather than penalty kicks. Players should also be cited after the match and banned or fined. Disincentives that would put an end to the cheating and ensure real fair play.
The arguments in favour of the use of technology are now overwhelming. The stakes are so high – money, reputations and national pride. Ironically, it is FIFA’s greed and the absurd salaries paid to players that now demand the use of technology. Football is no longer just a game. Decisions do not ‘come out in the wash’ and do not even out over time. It is an archaic view that ‘human error forms a part of the game’.
Cricket and Tennis have been using technology successfully for a long time now. Two of the most traditional and resistant sports. Surely it is time that football followed suit.
The most obvious benefit to the use of technology is that players would very soon start to play fairly, diminishing the need for technology in the first place. At the moment, players know they can cheat and get away with it. If they know that they will be instantly found out, they will stop their scandalous theatrics.
Of course there are some grey areas and some difficulties in deciding where to draw the line in the use of technology and where it will be used. But those are not reasons not to introduce technology in the first place. It just needs to be worked through – like cricket, football needs to experiment. It needs to learn how best to use the technology – see what works and what doesn’t. Some initial suggestions have been:
1) give each coach a limited number of official video challenges for each game;
2) use hawk eye line technology to see whether the ball crosses the line and whether players are offside;
3) subject all goals/red cards to video review; and
4) install a video official who can be in constant contact with the on-field referee and alert him to any major errors.
Technology doesn’t need ruin the game. There is no reason why it cannot become an exciting part of the game such as run out decisions in cricket, where fans anxiously await the outcome.
As the official FIFA World Cup slogan goes Ke Nako – it’s time. For now though, at least the English have something to moan about for the next few decades.