Southampton Legend Calls For Technology

Fortyfour years ago Terry was a member of the World Cup winning England team. He was there when Geoff Hurst scored that controversial goal in the final against Germany.

Of that goal he said he thought it had crossed the line and said that this was highlighted more by the reaction of fellow striker Roger Hunt.

Instead of putting the ball into the net himself he just turned away as he started celebrating the goal. He was perfectly placed to make sure but obviously didn’t feel it necessary.

Frank Lampsrd had a good goal disallowed because the officials said it had not crossed the line in June and this brought howls from England supporters.

Right or wrong, the decisions in games are made with the element of human error pencilled in. This was admitted by Sepp Blatter when he admitted that it would be nonsense not to open discussion on the use of the technology.

This simple statement after the World Cup made it seem we were on the brink of becoming a fairer decision making format.

Michel Platini though has said that such usage would would lead to Playstation football. He says he prefers the Champions League format of using and extra pair of eyes at each end of the pitch.

Legend Paine disagrees and has said that with the modern game being so quick now it is virtually impossible for a single referee to monitor all of the action accurately.

I agree fully and have been surprised by the way the use of technology has failed to materialise.

Paine also says that with 20 plus cameras at the games in todays games it is not surprising that errors are highlighted over and over again.

The mistakes get exposure on a daily basis and quite often a blatant decision incorrectly given can fuel anger among both players and fans alike.

Saints like other clubs have had decisions go for and against them and these decisions usually cause anger from the victims fans.

FIFA scrapped technology experiments in 2008, having decided that Hawkeye innovation was unsuitable for the game of football.

Now it appears that there is room for optimism as The International Football Association Board, which is FIFA’s rulemaking division, has asked for the technology companies to present their ideas by the end of November.

Perhaps just perhaps this is the beginning of the start we wish for. It seems that any systems will have been tested by the time of the March meeting of the IFAB.

This meeting will hopefully be able to discuss how and when any implementation should and can be begin.

Terry Paine has said that personally he has called for the use of the technical equipment to help eradicate some of the really poor decisions. He has said that the time is right and that the usage is long overdue.

I agree.