Why Fifa won’t go changing
World governing body has passed up opportunity to make important changes to football.
When an American tennis player starts getting irate with the rules of ‘soccer’ then you know something interesting is happening.
Even Andy Roddick felt moved to tweet his displeasure at the decision not to allow Frank Lampard’s goal against Germany, and Roddick is better placed than most to comment on the potential benefits technology can bring to a sport.
Line decisions in tennis can now be referred to video replays and broadly speaking the players like the system.
Unfortunately Fifa president Sep Blatter is one man who does not like the idea.
The closest Fifa has come to making changes is experimenting with the use of two extra officials behind the goal line in Europa League games.
They are there to assist the referee after incidents like Lampard’s shot.
But trials are all they remain.
Blatter insists football must retain its human aspect and claims that even after slow motions replays, 10 different experts can have 10 different opinions.
Unless you are the sort of person who thinks the Luddites were forward thinking innovators the argument does not really stand up to scrutiny.
To refer all decisions would be problematic and disruptive. But goal line technology is different.
The science is there for an instant signal to be given to the referee as to whether or not the ball has crossed the line.
No debate and minimal delay, just the right decision.
In the 2006 World Cup final the on-field referee did not himself see the infamous incident which the rest of the watching world saw – namely Zinedene Zidane forcibly thrusting his head into an unsuspecting Marco Materazzi.
However, a fourth official on the touchline did see the incident replayed on a TV monitor and tipped off the referee.
It was not by the book but it resulted in the right decision. Zidane was justly sent off.
Fifa’s response could have been to start seriously thinking about how best to move forward with video refereeing and line technology.
Instead they took the decision to remove all TV monitors from technical areas in an effort to ensure such a thing never happened again.
While Mr Blatter is in charge do not expect any change anytime soon.