Goal Line Technology...now is the time

Enough is enough.

Too many mistakes, too many embarrassments, too many excuses.

Another night of footballing controversy last night at Goodison Park, where Everton had a perfectly good goal not given as the officials failed to spot Victor Anichebe’s effort had crossed the line. For too long, we’ve listened to Michel Platini speak out against the use of technology, with him dribbling on about how goal line technology would end up affecting other aspects of the game, such as off-side decisions. Fans are sick and tired of their teams being on the wrong end of wrong decisions.

Neutrals are fed up with great games being spoiled by the officials getting the big decisions wrong…but should we be criticising the referees? Platini is afraid of offside decisions being decided by technology…but surely it is a good thing that offside decisions will be improved? We see goal after goal ruled out, or given when they shouldn’t be, for offside. The time has come for our sport to catch up on the rest of the sporting world and implement technology so the game can be played without the worry of a bad decision deciding the game…let the football do the deciding.

KIEV, UKRAINE – JULY 01: UEFA President Michel Platini (L) presents Mario Balotell (2nd L) with his runners up medal whilst Prince Felipe of Spain applauds following the UEFA EURO 2012 final match between Spain and Italy at the Olympic Stadium on July 1, 2012 in Kiev, Ukraine.

Does Platini not realise that other sports have prospered since the introduction of technology?

Tennis, American Football, Cricket – these are all sports who utilise technology to resolve controversial issues or issues the umpires/referees can’t call because of the speeds involved in the sport. All sports where it’s the matches that grab the headlines and not the referees! Instead of rejecting all forms of technology, Platini needs to sit down with world football’s fat cats and design a system that works for everybody in the professional game. His lazy attitude makes him look like a dinosaur and has lot him a lost of the respect he deservedly earned during his illustrious playing career.

Give the ref a break!

It’s the referees I feel sorry for! They haven’t a hope. It’s a thankless task – “you know a referee has had a good game because we aren’t talking about him” is an old favourite of many football pundits. Controversy reigns every single week in football, referees are slaughtered and accused of not doing their jobs properly. But how can they? The speed of the game, the speed at which these incidents happen, is too fast for referees to make a call on.

Gary Neville, on Sky Sports last night after the controversy of the disallowed goal in the Everton v Newcastle game, said the referee should have gone with his “gut instinct” and given the goal. WHAT? This is absolute rubbish. He’s basically saying he wanted the referee to make a call on what he ‘thought’ the decision could be. For a respected pundit, that is absolute drivel. Referees need to be 100% certain in order to give a decision – it’s all well and good Mr. Neville giving the referee guff after the benefit of 1000 super slow motion replays, 75,000 different camera angles and 3D imagery, but the referee had to make the call in real time without this help. The linesman had the perfect view, but didn’t give the goal, even though Victor Anichebe’s effort crossed the line. Why? It happened in a split second, that’s why.

CHISINAU, MOLDOVA – SEPTEMBER 06: Ray Lewington and Gary Neville inspect the pitch during the England training session at Zimbru Stadium on September 6, 2012 in Chisinau, Moldova.

Matt Le Tissier, who was commentating on the match, started babbling like a little girl at a Justin Bieber concert when he saw the replay of the incident. He didn’t criticise the officials until he saw the replay because he didn’t see the ball had crossed the line in real time either.

Another old chestnut that grinds my gears is “how can 30,000 people see it, but not the ref?”…more drivel.

Of course the 30,000 home supporters are going to be screaming for a goal. They are biased and their judgement is clouded. I’ve done it, you’ve done it, we’ve all done it! The fact that they were proven right by replays is irrelevant – if the ball didn’t cross the line, they would still be screaming for a goal, the same way Newcastle fans claimed the ball never crossed the line at Goodison Park last night. Football fans are so biased that when the introduction of technology finally does happen, supporters will still give out about the decisions the computers make!

I am not for one minute suggesting that all referees are blameless here, because we have had some shocking decisions over the years, but fans need to realise that the speed certain incidents happen at makes it impossible for referees to make the correct call and it’s about time they got the help they so badly need.

Michel Platini

KIEV, UKRAINE – JULY 01: UEFA president Michel Platini (L) and Prince Felipe of Spain (R) in the stands before the UEFA EURO 2012 final match between Spain and Italy at the Olympic Stadium on July 1, 2012 in Kiev, Ukraine.

UEFA President, Michel Platini, has spoken out against goal–line technology on many occasions. Platini is worried about the affect this technology would have on other areas of the game. During this summer’s European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, we had controversy in the match between Ukraine and England, when Ukraine scored what looked like a perfectly good goal, only for the officials to rule that the ball hadn’t crossed the line. TV replays clearly showed the ball did cross the line and the clamour for goal line technology reared its ugly head yet again. Platini claimed that in the build up to the incident, a Ukraine player was offside and the “goal” incident shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place. Platini said:

“The goal between England and Ukraine: it was a goal. It was a mistake from the referee. But there was an offside before then. If the officials had given offside there wouldn’t have been a goal. So why don’t we have technology for offside decisions as well? Where does it stop?”

Yes Michel, you are right. WHY DON’T WE HAVE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE OFFSIDE DECISIONS AS WELL? Such are the Luddite tendencies of football’s governing bodies, it will be many years before we see technology introduced to assist with offside decisions, so for the time being Mr. Platini, you need to take your head out of the past’s arse and step into the present where technological advancements can only benefit our sport. Goal line technology is on the horizon and the sooner you embrace it, the better, as we need to draw a line under this embarrassing issue – it is 2012!

Goal line technology

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 09: FIFA President Sepp Blatter

On 5th July this year, FIFA announced that goal line technology will be used in the near future, after a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Zurich. After 9 months of testing out the technology in a number of different countries, eight original systems were cut down to two – Hawk-Eye and GoalRef. The following are descriptions of both systems taken from the FIFA website….

Hawk-Eye system – goal-line camera technology

The Hawk-Eye system uses six to eight high-speed cameras set up at different angles at each end to calculate the exact position of the ball. The data from the cameras is then transferred to video software. From this data, the system generates a graphic image (3D) of the ball’s trajectory. The match officials are informed of whether or not it was a goal within one second.

GoalRef system – magnetic field technology

The GoalRef system creates the radio equivalent of a light curtain. Low magnetic fields are produced around the goal, and as soon as the ball, which is fitted with a compact electronic device, fully crosses the line, a minor change in the magnetic field is detected, thus allowing the exact position of the ball to be established. If a goal has been scored, an alert is transmitted to the match officials via a radio signal within one second, with a message displayed on their watches and via vibration.

So there you have it Mr. Platini, decisions will be made in ONE SECOND, which would save a considerable amount of time considering how long aggrieved teams spend arguing with officials after an incident occurs. One second to halt all the controversy. One second to stop your officials from being on the receiving end of unfair criticism. One second to stop fans from becoming disillusioned with the game they love.

Look at sports like Rugby Union, which uses a video referee. The respect rugby players have for referees is something that football is badly lacking and is a situation that will only improve with the introduction of technology – decisions will be 100% correct, the players have nothing to be irate about, officials won’t get as much abuse.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – JANUARY 09: (L to R) Franz Beckenbauer, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, Shakira and Manchester United Coach Sir Alex Ferguson during the red carpet arrivals for the FIFA Ballon d’Or

Thankfully for us football fans, this goal line technology will be rolled out this year, with the systems set to be used in the FIFA World Club Cup, which will take place in Japan in December this year, the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil and the 2014 World Cup, also in Brazil. Sepp Blatter and FIFA are sick of the embarrassing incidents at their tournaments and have decided, finally, to solve the problem.

Sadly, UEFA do not have to follow suit and implement these technological changes, but with pressure mounting on Platini from FIFA and with the likes of the influential Franz Beckenbauer having his say, it is only a matter of time before Platini sees sense – or there will be a new man at the helm after the UEFA presidential election in 2015, with Platini’s ignorance on the issue already causing splits in the UEFA camp.

Will everybody have access to the new technology??

The Premier League is expected to adopt one of these systems for the 2013 – 2014 season, with Hawk-Eye favorite to get the nod due to its success in Tennis and Cricket arenas around the world, although the cost difference between the two systems could be the deciding factor – it is estimated it could cost up to €200,000 to kit out a stadium with this technology, which poses it’s own problems for poorer football federations – will FIFA subsidise these advancements in poorer regions?

Can we expect clubs in Ireland to install this sort of technology at these prices, when the prize money on offer to the Irish Premier Division champions is €100,000? Obviously not, so how do FIFA plan to solve this issue? It is possible that not all levels of football will have access to this technology…money makes the footballing world go round and with no federations obligated to implement any of these systems, it is very likely that smaller footballing nations will continue as they are. This issue only gives Platini’s arguments more strength, as smaller clubs competing in the Champions League or Europa League won’t be able to afford these systems and all stadiums need to meet the same specifications to compete in these competitions.

This is an issue for the bigwigs at FIFA and the continental bodies to address, but now that Sepp Blatter is all in favour of technology in football, we might have these questions answered sooner than we think….whether Platini likes it or not, technology is on the way.

It’s about time….Enough is enough.