One of the main topics of debate at the moment is goal-line technology, ever since the England v Germany game in the 2010 World Cup with Frank Lampard's disallowed goal the introduction of the technology has been debated.
The technology is long overdue, it is available and already in use in other sports, e.g. Tennis. But for some reason FIFA has been reluctant and resisted the call for technology.
Further to this in our own Premiership we have seen some difficult decisions made by referee's in particular the Bank holiday game between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, did the whole ball go over the line? The linesman thought yes but he was some distance from the line of play so for me, he could only guess.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp certainly wants to see the technology introduced. In the interview after the game, he stated, 'We can put a man on the moon but we cant decide if a ball crossed the line, its beyond belief'.
With a new taskforce set up headed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, it is the intention to introduce the technology for the next World Cup in 2014 and will almost certainly start using the technology in time for the 2012-13 season after once more formally inviting tenders for products in development to be tested. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore is also hopeful that the technology could be introduced in time for the 2012-13 season.
There will be two rounds of testing and to proceed to the second round technologies must show 90% accuracy in seeing whether both a static or a moving ball is across the line.
These technologies must also inform the referee about goal-line incidents both by a vibration and a display signal to his watch, wherever he is on the pitch. All of this testing will be carried out in daylight and under floodlight conditions.
The testing will continue until June next year ready and with the hope of using it for the 2012-13 season.
I would have liked a similar system that is in place by Hawk-Eye at Wimbledon, to enable the fans to see the result on a large screen, rather than the referee just blowing his whistle and saying goal or no goal. However another argument is that very little time is lost this way and the game continues on almost as normal.
Written by http://www.kitupforfootball.com
