FIFA World Cup 2010 Goal-line technology - To be or not to be?
Frank Lampard's goal, but not a goal, has started the debate about goal-line technology once again. The eventual score of the match was 4-1 to the Germans, so on the face of it, it would appear that the decision had no effect at all. However, if we dig a little deeper, the effect is much more apparent. The goal that was not came at point when the score was 2-1 to the Germans. Had England scored and made it 2-2, the nature of the game would have changed completely. That is not to say that England would have went on to win, The Germans were the better team and deserved to go to the next round, but the game took a completely different direction to what it should have, which is why proponents of Goal-line technology have appealed to FIFA to re-consider their stance on the matter.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has been firmly against the proposal. However, he has maintained that introducing technology compromises the authority of the referee and a better solution is to use more assistants to help the referee make the decision. One wonders though, if adding more assistants will lead to more accurate decisions or more confusion. The referee may be faced with a situation where two of his assistants disagree with each other. In such a scenario, any decision he takes is going to be based on his personal opinion, which defies the purpose of having more people to begin with. Add to that, the assistant is also a human and has the same limitations as the referee, so he can only improve the decision-making to a very limited extent. Goal-line technology, on the other hand, means a much more significant increase in the accuracy of decision.
Another argument often cited when arguing against goal-line technology is that it breaks the momentum of the game. Football is a free-flowing sport which makes it superior, in the opinion of football fans, to other stop-start sports like American Football, and Cricket just to name a few. Adding stoppages to the game is not something fans want to see. Concern about the need for the free-flowing nature of football is valid but it is not one which the introduction of goal-line technology specifically affects. A disputed goal, with regards to the ball crossing the line or not, is rare. It does not happen in every match. In fact, it does not even happen in every other tournament. Therefore, introducing the technology will not hinder the flow of the game in any way whatsoever.
Lastly, old school football fans have argued that not using technology adds a degree of unpredictability in the game, that bad decisions even out over time and it is all a part of the game, in general. This is something that is highly debatable. It can be argued that more damage than good has been done by bad decisions since they do not always even out, especially in the case of a knock-out tournament like the World Cup, or the UEFA Champions league. Additionally, the unpredictability of play will always be there, the decisions being unpredictable can only limit the quality of football at display.
It seems only a matter of time before football accepts technology, officially. It may have to wait for some of the old guards to move on, people like Sepp Blatter who refuse to accept that the sport, indeed all sports, have changed and so changes need to be made. German fans meanwhile may think back to the 1966 World Cup, when England controversially won on a disputed goal, and smile at the fact that it did even out, eventually.
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