It`s Time To Trial Replay Technology in Football

The debate over whether replay technology should be utilised in the officiating of football matches has raged on for quite some time. One can understand the arguments against this, with many fans concerned about the flow of the game being broken by constant interruptions. But as technology has been successfully implemented in other sports, the debate will undoubtedly continue in the future.

However, an incident has occurred over the weekend, which surely must underline how difficult the job of officiating has become. And it came in the one of the most important European fixtures of the season, when Barcelona played Atletico Madrid with the La Liga title on the line.

I must say that although there is absolutely no question that Atletico deserved this victory, as many have stated and I have done so previously, now we know that the Messi goal should have stood, surely the time has come to at least consider using more than just goal-line technology (although, ironically, the German Cup Final was also decided by an incorrect refereeing decision because they don`t use goal-line technology...but I’ll come to that later!). I`m sure it would be possible to instigate some sort of challenge system without delaying the game too much (after all, it gets delayed anyway due to players complaining about decisions) and it`s asking a lot for one referee and two linesmen to spot everything.

I don`t mean to take anything away from Atletico, who are brilliant, but too many games are now decided by refereeing decisions, and it is too much of a continual flashpoint. Television technology can continually expose the mistakes of officials, and far from replay technology undermining them, they are currently being undermined by the viewing of this technology by fans without having the benefit of it themselves.

If the veracity of this argument is doubted, we have just witnessed an incident which underlines the value of technology. During the German Cup Final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, a goal scored by Dortmund was wrongly ruled out, when replays show that it had clearly crossed the line. We now know that had the German football federation used goal-line technology then there would almost certainly been a different win in one of their showpiece events. This was two trophies in two days effectively decided by incorrect refereeing decisions which could have been prevented by the usage of technology.

No-one is asking for the governing bodies that run the game to tear up decades of tradition overnight. But surely it would be possible to at least trial a challenge system in some sort of minor tournament? Maybe a youth tournament could be the way to do it, or possibly an under-21s competition.

But the job which officials are being asked to do is impossible. Bear in mind that they`re chasing supreme athletes (who constantly try to trick them) around a playing area which is approximately 7,500 square metres, while tens of thousands of people constantly scream at them and abuse them, where every single thing they do is scrutinised at length in a completely unfair manner by TV, and within a sport in which there is absolutely no ethos of fair play or culture of respecting the officials. And you have three people to do that job. And the rules are extremely complex, nuanced and open to interpretation.

Compare that to tennis where the officials stand or sit completely still, survey a playing area about 1/50th of the surface area of a football field, where crowds are extremely respectful to officials, as generally are players, as generally are the TV commentators and analysts, where there absolutely is a culture of respecting the officials. And you have seven people to do that job. And technology can be called upon at any time. And each official has one very basic job to do, and the rules are extremely cut and dried and not open to interpretation at all.

Is it surprising that football referees make mistakes? There are going to be mistakes if the game continues to be officiated the way it is now, that`s guaranteed. What you`re asking three human officials to do is impossible. It’s time to give TV a chance.

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19/05/2014     © Frixo 2026