Mar
7
It continues. The major footballing authorities refuse to allow any sort of technology into the game, and their resolve seems unshakable.
The International Football Association Board, which makes and votes on the laws of professional football, decided in a six-to-two vote recently that there would be no use of goal-line technology or video replays in the foreseeable future. The Board is made up of eight votes, four of which are split between the four founding United Kingdom FAs, and four of which belong to FIFA. FIFA, of course, voted against the changes, but what is interesting is that the Wales and Northern Irish FAs voted in line with them too. One very much doubts the Republic of Ireland would have voted the same, given the big controversy that saw them miss out on a place in the World Cup due to the referee not seeing Thierry Henry’s handball. England and Scotland were the only ones that were open to the changes, but that was not enough.
The main argument presented against goal-line technology is that it would slow down the game too much and remove the human element. However, that presupposes that every instance of doubt would pause a match for a review, which I don’t see why should be the case. Is it too much to ask for some practicality? In my humble opinion, it definitely is possible to keep the momentum of the game and increase the chances of a correct call by simply allowing video replays.