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Technology for football?
ON THE SPORTING EDGE
Paul Reid
Thursday, July 01, 2010
var addthis_pub="jamaicaobserver";
The first two rounds of the 2010 FIFA World Cup are now in the books and football fans all over the world are eagerly awaiting the starts of the quarter finals tomorrow and the intrigue and surprises that it may include.
After a slow, and some would argue, boring start, the "biggest show in the world" picked up steam as the first round drew to a close, and during the second round.
Unfortunately, however, too much of the discussions and conversations were about the poor officiating that we saw, especially on Saturday, when both England and Mexico were denied by disgraceful blunders by referees.
England's Frank Lampard's goal against Germany was clearly legal even in 'real time' and Argentina's Carlos Tevez was so far offside when he scored his team's first goal against Mexico, the refs might have forgotten him.
Given the careful screening process that FIFA puts their officials through, one would expect that only the very best referees and assistants would be at the World Cup.
What we have seen however, are terrible calls and misjudgments that cannot be tolerated at any level of the game, whether it is at the World Cup or schoolboy level.
The sending home of the referees involved in the more obvious cases is not good enough, as the damage has been done and while those incidents might not have been decisive in the outcome of the games, they still left a big enough stain on the game that FIFA must take serious actions to prevent them being repeated in the future.
The argument of technology being introduced in the game has resurfaced with a vengeance and even the old school FIFA president Sepp Blatter has finally conceded that his body will consider it.
Given the fast flowing nature of football, I am not convinced that technology will solve most of the bad calls we see and we might well have to learn to live with human element of the sport.
Replays can work with sports such as cricket, baseball, American football and to some degree basketball, but how would we be able to use it in a game like football that flows for the 90 minutes?
Additionally, if FIFA does come up with a system that works to cut down on the bad calls we see in the game, could that system be introduced at all levels of the game, including in our Premier League and schoolboys football competitions?
Technology is not cheap and while most of the rich countries and league will be able to implement it, what about the poorer countries like Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean and even some in Africa and South East Asia just to name a few?
One suggestion put forward is for the implementation of more people, that is referees whose only job is to look out for balls that might or might not have crossed the goal line.
While that would work, it may involve additional expense that a lot of leagues cant afford.
Also how often do we see these incidents over the course of a season?
What is certain however is that FIFA must find a way of solving what has become an embarrassment to the game and as soon as possible.
Certainly it can't be for this World Cup and so we may have to live with the mistakes and inefficiencies of the men who will be appointed to take part in the rest of the tournament and we can just hope we won't see anymore of these blunders.
Technology for football?
ON THE SPORTING EDGE
Paul Reid
Thursday, July 01, 2010
var addthis_pub="jamaicaobserver";
The first two rounds of the 2010 FIFA World Cup are now in the books and football fans all over the world are eagerly awaiting the starts of the quarter finals tomorrow and the intrigue and surprises that it may include.
After a slow, and some would argue, boring start, the "biggest show in the world" picked up steam as the first round drew to a close, and during the second round.
Unfortunately, however, too much of the discussions and conversations were about the poor officiating that we saw, especially on Saturday, when both England and Mexico were denied by disgraceful blunders by referees.
England's Frank Lampard's goal against Germany was clearly legal even in 'real time' and Argentina's Carlos Tevez was so far offside when he scored his team's first goal against Mexico, the refs might have forgotten him.
Given the careful screening process that FIFA puts their officials through, one would expect that only the very best referees and assistants would be at the World Cup.
What we have seen however, are terrible calls and misjudgments that cannot be tolerated at any level of the game, whether it is at the World Cup or schoolboy level.
The sending home of the referees involved in the more obvious cases is not good enough, as the damage has been done and while those incidents might not have been decisive in the outcome of the games, they still left a big enough stain on the game that FIFA must take serious actions to prevent them being repeated in the future.
The argument of technology being introduced in the game has resurfaced with a vengeance and even the old school FIFA president Sepp Blatter has finally conceded that his body will consider it.
Given the fast flowing nature of football, I am not convinced that technology will solve most of the bad calls we see and we might well have to learn to live with human element of the sport.
Replays can work with sports such as cricket, baseball, American football and to some degree basketball, but how would we be able to use it in a game like football that flows for the 90 minutes?
Additionally, if FIFA does come up with a system that works to cut down on the bad calls we see in the game, could that system be introduced at all levels of the game, including in our Premier League and schoolboys football competitions?
Technology is not cheap and while most of the rich countries and league will be able to implement it, what about the poorer countries like Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean and even some in Africa and South East Asia just to name a few?
One suggestion put forward is for the implementation of more people, that is referees whose only job is to look out for balls that might or might not have crossed the goal line.
While that would work, it may involve additional expense that a lot of leagues cant afford.
Also how often do we see these incidents over the course of a season?
What is certain however is that FIFA must find a way of solving what has become an embarrassment to the game and as soon as possible.
Certainly it can't be for this World Cup and so we may have to live with the mistakes and inefficiencies of the men who will be appointed to take part in the rest of the tournament and we can just hope we won't see anymore of these blunders.
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