Video Technology In Soccer: The Time Is Now...

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FIFA keeps harping on about fair play in its meetings, and yet everything it does seems to play to the tune of them wanting to have the top teams at their tournaments without giving the so called lesser nations a prayer of a chance.

Let’s put this into perspective, shall we? Ireland was seeded third in their qualifying group. They finished second. In a sense, they’d already overachieved in more ways than one, and for them to be denied a place in the World Cup in a manner that was quite preposterous to say the least.

Did I mention FIFA ruled that the playoffs, too, would be a seeded a mere three weeks before the end of the qualifiers. The only reason they could possibly have done so was because they saw clearly that Portugal, France and couple of other ‘top’ teams would be in the playoffs.

Coming to THAT handball, which will be the topic of my short article today, I just want to say that as much I supported Ireland’s calls for a replay, even they knew in their hearts it wasn’t going to happen.

I remember a qualifier between Bahrain and Uzbekistan being replayed due to a penalty wrongly given I think, but in that case it was more a wrong interpretation of the rules whereas here, the ref has clearly seen the incident and allowed the goal.

For years now, different quarters have been crying for video technology and the France-Ireland game should put an end to all doubts as to whether it would come to any use or not. Sure, the human element should be there and the ref should still be the centre of the decision making domain but this wasn’t a backyard pub game, this was for a place in the World Cup, and a slight use of the video technology would have cleared everything up.

Of course, Ireland could still have gone on to lose the game, and that is not my point. What I am trying to say is that the way they were eliminated was not befitting of the effort they put in, and blaming Henry is no use. He has been a great ambassador to the ole that will be the game and this will be just a blot on his resume, which, in spite of saying almost drove him into retirement, is something he will learn to live with.

But the fact that the linesmen failed to see the incident despite being almost at a directly 90 degree angle to the incident just shows the role video tech can play. Many have said it will disrupt play and proceedings. Trust me 20 seconds is all it will take, and if it can improve decision making and goal-line decisions, in the end, it will be football as a whole and also afford FIFA the luxury of stepping away from uncomfortable questions on player ethics and the implementation of rules, not to mention fair play.

It is used in American football with great success, and I don’t understand why soccer cannot take a leaf from their book. It is a shame when teams are denied on the basis of wrong decisions, especially on goal line decisions. Scoring goals at high level is not an easy task, and the same applies for preventing goals i.e. defending, and to see poor decisions, human error as it is, is very disappointing for passionate viewers like me.

The rime to implement video replays in football, quite evidently so, is now…

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