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The Swiss roll of Foolishness

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As a Saint`s fan I have grown to love Switzerland over the last year, its food, culture, and the small fact that a member of a Swiss dynasty has saved our club from oblivion and transformed the clubs fortunes dramatically.

But don`t be fooled by they`re efficient transport systems and banking know how, because the Swiss have they`re own fair share of loony`s.

Step forward Sepp ‘Bladder` Blatter who seems to have as much ambition as a Swiss roll.

Football has become a multi billion dollar industry all over the planet, from Portugal to Paraguay football is a common language. With the monumental growth of the sport there have been many changes for the future.

op youth systems along with new all-seater stadiums as well as state of the art changes in how players train and prepare for matches have been some of the positive changes in our game, crowd safety and better policing have made football a family sport.

I cannot argue that these things have not been good for football, they have gone into improving the sport that we follow and as much as all seater stadiums and youth academies are all great, when you look at other sports such as Rugby and Cricket? We are actually further behind than we would like to think.

Perhaps the key point that I am pointing to is the use of technology.

Other sports use technology very successfully to make certain decisions such as whether a ball has crossed the line or such, and this is great, it means that the result is down to the fitness, quality and determination of the team rather than a mistake from a referee.

So why then are we not using this technology to make football a fairer and less controversial game? If we took this attitude of anti technology which seems to be Sepp Blatter`s forte, we would still be using typewriters and listening to our favourite music on cassette players.

Why then is a method of improving decision making being ignored by Mr Blatter and his FIFA counterparts?



Detrimental to referees? – Would be a possible argument if the referees themselves weren`t calling for the technology, and the simple fact that referees are not microchip robotics means that they can make mistakes.

Surely even FIFA can see that 10 years of technological advances and a microchip has more chance of making a calculated decision, from half a yard might I add, than a middle aged Peruvian stood 50 yards away.



wasting valuable time? – It would stop players wasting 5 or 10 minutes of the game shouting at the referee in a blind fit of rage over being cheated out of the world cup, that`s unless they want to shout at the microchips which would be like a scene out of the Tom Hanks film ‘Castaway`.

Plus the fact that arguing with the decision would be like arguing with a calculator, chances are you`ve got it wrong and therefore there is no grounds for debate. The multi millionaire footballers wouldn’t want to look like fools now would they?

It`s expensive? – not expensive either, in fact its inventor has already spoken about the costs it would take to implement it into the national game, and needless to say its not going to send every football club owner into financial ruin.

Let`s not forget that Rugby and Tennis also use this technology, with the funds available to the FA and FIFA the costs shouldn`t be too much to part with, they wouldn`t want to make people think that Tennis has better funding than the supposedly number 1 sport on the planet?

So come on FIFA, even giving it a test run in a few international friendlies would be a start surely? It would cost less than Sepp ‘Bladder`s salary that`s for sure, and would probably provide much more value for money.

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