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I think most people agree that as long as referees in football are humans and not super robots, and as long as FIFA insists to keep football almost the only sport without technology assistance for referees, we will keep debating if the ball crossed the line or not, was it an offside or not, penalty or not, scored by hand or head. And it will always remain a mystery if the ref missed the call, or meant it .
In the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Scotland’s chances to qualify were made very slim now after tying with Czech Republic 2-2. The ref didn’t only awarded a penalty for a clear dive of a Czech player, but also failed to award Scotland for a correct penalty, thus robbing the Scots of a much needed victory.
I think these things can kill the game more than the negative impact of ‘slowing the game’ which is the FIFA’s excuse for not introducing video technology. It is pathetic that millions of people are the world see the mistake on TV, and the referee is the only one who missed it.
Players are left with one last solution:
That terrible hit was on a play off game between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 1983, when both countries had big football rivalries going against each other. It was 2-1 already at extra time for Kuwait, and Jamal Farhan was sent off with a direct red card for a simple foul.
The sent off players used to set with the sub bench back then, and Jamal decided to take teach the Belgian referee a lesson. Well, what the ref missed, that Jamal had a black belt in ‘taekwondo’. The ref was seriously injured in his ear, the game stopped and FIFA awarded Kuwait with a 2-0 victory.
Jamal almost ended his career by that time. He was banned by FIFA for good from all international games. The Saudi Federation banned the player two years in the local league. He never came back strongly. Well, Jamal was not a superstar, but he was a decent striker with some memorable moments at that time.
Jamal, after all, is a nice person, and in a recent controversial TV sport program, he admitted his mistake and advised kids not to imitate him. Yet, at that time somehow, he became popular among fans for the wrong reasons.
Saudi Arabia – Kuwait 1983 game was very tensed then, but not important now. However, I think that we will witness a similar incident in a WC Final, EC Final, or CL Final if FIFA keeps being so stubborn in the call to bring in video technology.
