As the world of sport increasingly begins to embrace the advent of video technology, many calls have been made for football to jump upon the bandwagon. The recent media furore surrounding the Republic of Ireland’s contentious failure to qualify for this year’s World Cup finals appears to have provided fresh impetus for the introduction of video technology into football. With senior officials within FIFA and UEFA casting admiring glances towards the use  of ‘Hawk-Eye’ in both tennis and cricket, many believe it is now only a matter of time before similar methods are adopted in football. But would such a fundamental change help or hinder our beloved beautiful game?

High Stakes

With the likes of Messrs Wenger, Ferguson and Hughes all making calls for the inception of video technology, it is getting harder to ignore the clamour for the introduction of these methods. The increasing media scrutiny and interest within the game, coupled with the domineering financial influence and aspect of the sport means that the stakes are now higher than ever. Indeed, the price of failure is costlier than ever – a cursory glance at the perilous plights of Charlton Athletic, Norwich City and Southampton demonstrate how devastating the knock-on effects from Premier League relegation can be.

With the margins for error being so minimal these days, it is claimed that the use of video technology would eliminate the injustices attributable to poor offside, penalty and goal-line decisions once and for all. It is hard enough for downtrodden clubs to accept relegation from one tier to another, but that pill becomes so much harder to swallow when they believe that their fate has been determined by a culmination of fortuitous decisions going against them.

The frenetic, breakneck pace of the game (particularly in England) means that it can often be tricky for officials to keep up. For example, with what degree of certainty can a referee actually decide that a foul has occurred within the box when a breakaway counter-attack has occurred and he is a good 30 yards away? Similarly, when a ball is hoisted back into a congested penalty area following a set-piece, how can a linesman convincingly claim that an attacking player is or isn’t offside when he is a good 20 yards away on the touchline? Introducing video technology would help to alleviate these doubts.

Respect

The start of the 2008-2009 season heralded the introduction of the FA’s ‘Respect’ campaign, a move aimed at increasing player respect for match day officials. 17 months later, and even the most optimistic of FA officials would be hard pressed to say that the campaign has been a resounding success. The competitive and passionate nature of our sport means that players’ hearts often rule their heads during the course of a game. This is most prevalent when a hugely contested or erroneous decision goes against them; the treatment of Norwegian referee Tom Henning Øvrebø during Chelsea’s ill-fated Champions League semi-final match against Barcelona last season serves to illustrate this point.

Decisions would be a lot harder to protest when clear video evidence would prove a player wrong. In this instance, it seems almost certain that less ire and vitriol would be aimed at beleaguered officials.

Video Nasty

However, such motions for change have not been universally welcomed. Commentators have noted that the use of video technology has been a success in cricket, rugby and tennis due to the ‘stop-start’, broken-up nature of these sports; the fact that game-play in these sports is broken up means that the impact of video technology is not disruptive. Many detractors argue that the introduction of video technology into football would severely disturb the flow and pace of the game. This argument is particularly salient when considering the speed at which football is played in England, particularly at Premier League level. Critics believe that deploying video technology in football would ruin the sport as a spectacle. The frustration of having to wait for a minute or two whilst the referee waits for the fourth official to check video footage several times a match would certainly frustrate both players and fans alike.

Swings and Roundabouts

The evils of which video technology is supposed to rid football of aren’t new problems; they’re problems that have existed within football since the formation of the sport. Whilst players and managers will bemoan the misfortune of erroneous decisions that have gone against them, all teams benefit and suffer from poor decisions, and it is thought that such injustices ‘iron themselves out’ over the course of a season.

It is these perceived ‘injustices’ within the game that form the talking points for the rest of week whilst we wait for next Saturday to come! If video technology was to rid football of these issues of debate, then surely some of the magic of the game would be lost. And losing the essence, the spirit and the magic of this wonderful sport would surely be the biggest loss of them all.

Written by Zarif Rasul