As many of you know FIFA has approved two systems of goal-line technology to proceed to the next step of testing: Hawk-Eye and GoalRef. Both of these has sensors on the goal-line that send a signal to the referee (presumably on his watch or something) if the ball has crossed the line. FIFA's requirements be that it can send a signal within 1 second of the ball crossing the line and can do it with multiple players crowding the goal line. Both of these systems pass these requirements and are currently in the last stage of testing. They could be ready to introduce as early as the 2013/14 season. But are FIFA missing the point with these systems being introduced? Incidents of the referee not knowing whether the ball has crossed the line or not are very rare in football, happening about once or twice every PL season (or less). That is 380 games. Fans, players and managers have been calling FIFA to introduce a system, but what I noticed was that many were calling for a video ref or video replays, which could be used for the ball crossing the line, or for offsides, fouls, contact on penalties, etc. FIFA are introducing a very simple system which simply tells the ref if the ball crosses the line or not, and most of the time it is easy for him to see that on his own. So, are FIFA missing the point by bringing in this one-dimensional system instead of trying out video replays like in other sports, or is it a clever move by them?
It is a pandaros box this VT but the horse is about to bolt from the stable. Once it's there for one aspects of decision maikng, the scope creep will commence and eventually it WILL be extended to everything.
