I have for many years be advocating the use of technology in football. In fact one of my very first articles was on this exact issue. For me it is a no-brainer, technology should be used just as it is in other sports.
I first saw technology used in Rugby League over 15 years ago. Even then I could not understand why it was not used in football. Since then so many other sports have adopted technology to help with decisions. It has changed certain sports forever. For example look at Tennis, the days of a players acting like John McEnroe and ranting about line-calls are largely gone. The players are left in no doubt to if the correct decision was made.
When you consider the money involved in todays game and the hours and hours of media coverage and scrutiny of every match it is laughable that the sport does not use technology. We have so many cameras at every game and yet the people who really need them do not have access to them. Surely this is not right. What is it about the governing bodies that makes them so arrogant as to think we do not need it?
Finally this year goal-line technology has come into effect in the Premier League and it has shown just how easy it is use. Even though this issue rarely appears in matches, when it has been needed it has produced the goods everytime. To think of all the players, managers and fans anger that has been saved by the introduction of such a simple tool, which we should have had 10 years ago. No longer have we discussed controversial goal-line calls or spend hours discussing them on sports programmes such as Radio 5 Live's 606 or Match Of the Day.
The time argument is one that annoys me greatly as it is simply not true. The amount of time that is wasted by players arguing or harassing the referee could be used to get the right result. Also I would rather it took an extra 30 seconds and the right decision was made than a snapshot instant mistake.
How long would it have taken for Kieron Gibbs' red-card to be checked? 5 seconds? Literally one replay and it would have been sorted as many other decisions would be.
Now I am not defending Andre Marriner as his mistake is inexcusable. He will be suspended for at least a few games I imagine, if not relegated to lower league matches. I also think the roles of the linesman should be questioned as surely he saw it was not Gibbs who handled the ball? Having said this I just think that if the fourth official or someone upstairs away from the action could have taken a quick look at it again and contacted him the issue would have been resolved before Gibbs even got off the pitch.
I think England and the Premier League should lead the way and start using it. If we wait for UEFA/FIFA you could be waiting a very long time. As seen with their waste of time introduction of extra officials in European matches, who I am yet to see make a decision.
The job of the referee is very tough and even when viewing a match on the television you regularly need to see replays to conclude a decision. Why shouldn't he have the best possible view to make a decision?
I am not saying you should stop the game every minute to check every decision but major decisions should be assessed. One of which is a straight red card and the other is a penalty. Both of these are crucial decisions that alter games hugely. An example was in last night El Clasico. The Real Madrid penalty never should have been. If the ref had blown for a foul, then very quickly asked via his radio mic "inside or not" it would have taken what 5 seconds to see it was outside. Again one replay was all that would have been necessary. By doing so the players cannot argue as they have no grounds. If that decision had decided the game it would have been a 'controversial' talking point and one which would have been resented by Barcelona fans and players.
A further point is that referees could also not be so easily intimidated as they could pass it upstairs if in doubt. For me we should be looking at getting referees out of the spotlight and back-pages and talking about the game. Their present for me is far too much. Too often Phil Dowd, Howard Webb, Martin Atkinson, Andre Marriner or Mike Dean are hitting the headlines for deciding games with rash/incorrect decisions.
At the end of the day for me video technology equals justice and for those that want a fair game with the correct decisions, whether that means you team winning or losing, it is a necessity. For me the real sadness is that despite it having been so obvious for so long we still wait.
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