Video technology has got to come

The unfortunate events in the France-Ireland World Cup Qualifier have highlighted yet again the need for football’s governing body to reconsider the use of video technology on key decisions. No one can hold it against the referee that he didn’t see Thierry Henry’s handball – his view was blocked. One can question why the linesman didn’t see it – maybe there was someone in the way, and, after all, it happened very quickly and he was a long way away. Everyone can get on their soap box and criticise Henry for doing it – but which of the professionals on the pitch would not have done the same thing in the same situation?

For me, the point is not so much that the referee has made an error. That will always happen. The point is that all TV viewers in the world were made aware of the mistake within 10 seconds – and the poor old ref is left there with his authority thoroughly undermined. Surely it is the sport of football and the fans that pay to get into the stadium that should benefit from such technology, rather than merely those sat at home? So many commercial aspects of football have hit the 21st century leading other sports that it’s a glaringly obvious contradiction that soccer lags behind on something as fundamental as this. One incidental bonus: it would be nice to shut up the likes of Alex Ferguson and others every (rare) time a decision goes against them.

One merely has to look at rugby, cricket and tennis as sports which have taken advantage of video replays – to see how quickly the change has been accepted, and how much it has diffused potential tensions on the pitch. While I do recall the “entertainment” value of a John McEnroe tantrum on the court when a ball was wrongly given “out”, this was a miniscule element relative to the entertainment he provided by playing such fantastic tennis – which was the main reason I always looked forward to watching him play.

The obvious question for video evidence in football is: which decisions should be left to the referee, and on which issues should he be allowed to consult the “5th referee”? In the knowledge that this will probably trigger a few thoughts, here are my views on what should be introduced for the World Cup:

Video technology (used immediately) for goals – i.e. has the ball crossed the line?

Goal kicks & corners – Presumably the goal-line technology could easily be extended to whether or not the ball has gone out for a goal kick/corner.

Off-sides – This is easily done with TV technology, if needed. Surely we could have a rule where the linesman gives more benefit of the doubt to attackers in the “live” game, i.e. so that there are fewer off-sides given where the attacker is onside – with the 5th ref encouraged to review the situation a.s.a.p. Based on TV replays, these can genuinely be called within a few seconds. The one problem of this will be calling play back for the offside if it, say, takes longer than 5 seconds.

Penalties – Every penalty decision will have to be reviewed. This is where I see genuine problems, however, because body contact looks different in slow motion. It is easy to identify certain wrong decisions e.g. David Ngog’s dive in the recent Liverpool-Birmingham game – but there are also many grey areas. There have been a number of penalties this season – e.g. Wayne Rooney for Man Utd vs Arsenal, and Darren Bent for Sunderland vs Tottenham – where the player has clearly dived before he is hit by the keeper. Hansen & Shearer described both of these as “stonewall penalties” on Match of the Day as the keeper had lunged and missed the ball. I read some research recently which indicated that the arching of the back is not a natural movement if tackled, i.e. it only happens if the forward exaggerates the impact. I totally accept that this is a grey area, where the ref on the pitch must still have the last word, but my hope would be that the TV replays are used in such a way as to allow sufficient guarantee to forwards that fouls will be picked up, rather than them having to play act to be noticed.

Free kicks – This is clearly an area of less importance – and the process might genuinely slow down the game. However, more and more teams rely on set pieces close to the box. Maybe teams should have the chance to appeal 5 free-kick decisions a game.

Corners & set pieces – This is probably the most difficult thing of all. I would argue that if you took slow motion cameras of the whole penalty area, there is not a single corner taken in top level professional football which is totally clean. In fact I would contend that you would always be able to find a foul by one of the attacking team and by one of the defending team. Perhaps these should also be covered by 5 appeals per game.

Miscellaneous other incidents – I think of the Zidane head butt against Materazzi. That would have been unbelievably wrong to go unpunished – especially as the whole world had been shown the incident even before the referee knew what had happened. However, how can the referee possibly be expected to spot such an incident? There must therefore be a 5th referee out there – also so that the players know that they are on the world stage.

Video technology (after the game) – The law already states that players who deliberately dive should be given a yellow card. I think that refs should have the power to award post-match yellow cards if video evidence shows blatant diving. Blatant fouls are probably not as easy to judge in slow motion after the incident, but the option should be there. (Maybe a player could be warned that the ref would look at the incident after the game – the equivalent of half a yellow card.) Similarly, yellow cards could be rescinded if TV replays provide the ref with a different view of an incident. I wonder if the ref still felt Drogba should have got a yellow card after seeing the contact made by Johnny Evans’ left and right boots in the Chelsea-Manchester United game.

Anyway, these are my thoughts in the wake of this week’s emotional events. I just feel it is wrong if FIFA does not do all in its power to help the referees and ensure that the World Cup truly is the world’s greatest sporting event, remembered for its skill and pace, rather than for human error and/or cheating.