The Football League has volunteered to be used as a ‘guinea pig” for goal line technology that, if successful, could be implemented throughout the world. Rather than video evidence, the scheme would involve using a specially created ball fitted with a microchip that bleeps whenever it crosses the line.
Fifa’s international board, the only authority with the power to change the laws of the game, will be given a demonstration of the Adidas-designed ball at Cardiff’s Millennium stadium before its annual meeting on February 26. It will then decide whether to accept the Football League’s offer of an extended trial period on the second, third and fourth rungs of English football.
‘The golden goal and the 10-yard rule for dissent were both tested in one of our competitions, the LDV Trophy, and we have informed Uefa that if they want to try out goal-line technology, we would be happy to help,” said the league spokesperson John Nagle.
He said discussions had started long before Tuesday’s controversy at Old Trafford when Manchester United’s goalkeeper Roy Carroll dropped a long-range shot from Tottenham’s Pedro Mendes over his goal line and clawed it back. Play was waved on, the match finished scoreless and the oversight by the referee Mark Clattenburg and his assistant Rob Lewis prevented Tottenham from recording their first win at Old Trafford since 1989.
‘There has been a feeling at club level for a long time that goal-line technology can help and that there is no harm in trying these things,” said Nagle. ‘There is a desire to move the game forward when necessary. So if there is a system that works, and part of the problem is that there has never been one that was considered foolproof, Fifa know the offer is there.”
One stumbling block could be that the contract to supply balls to the league is currently held by Mitre, not Adidas, but if the technology proves viable this should not be insurmountable.
It is likely that end-of-season trials will lead to another vote at Fifa’s annual meeting in 2006, when a decision will be made about implementing it on a full-time basis.
‘I do not think that after one presentation or one trial a quick decision will be taken,” confirmed Fifa’s communications director Markus Siegler. ‘This is a crucial matter.”
The Football Association (FA) will be represented at next month’s meeting by a delegation including the chairperson Geoff Thompson and the head of refereeing John Baker. Along with their counterparts from Scotland and Northern Ireland, they will back calls for a period of experimentation.
‘The FA is willing to discuss and consider any form of goal-line technology that would improve decision-making while not disrupting the game,” the organisation said in a statement. ‘The key factor is whether a message can be transmitted immediately to the referee, allowing him to take an immediate decision without interrupting play.”
Video evidence is unlikely to do that without a short delay and, though the FA’s incoming chief executive Brian Barwick has advocated such a move, Fifa is adamant that it will not happen. Siegler said Fifa was ‘strongly against” using replays and added: ‘The only thing that could be considered is the technology to decide whether or not the ball has crossed the line.”
Keith Hackett, the former referee who is now in charge of the training and management of match officials, said the system would have to be fully researched. ‘There is no point in introducing technology without understanding the wider issues.”
He empathised with the match officials at Old Trafford. ‘The referee’s assistant didn’t have the pace [to keep up with the ball]. But an Olympic sprinter might not have had the speed to get into position to make that judgement. He can’t guess — he has to be certain the ball crossed the line.”
Hackett’s organisation will consider withdrawing Clattenburg and Lewis from future games but both are free to be involved in Friday’s FA Cup third-round tie between Burnley and Liverpool at Turf Moor.
‘I’m not going to talk specifically about individuals, but we do review performances by the match officials,” said Hackett. ‘We had an independent assessor at the game and a delegate [a former manager]. On this occasion it was Terry Dolan. He will make his own judgement and talk to both managers and a report will be forthcoming. There will clearly be a one-to-one viewing of this particular incident with the match official concerned.”
The bookmaker William Hill has offered to pay out to anyone who accepted the 20-1 odds on Mendes scoring first in Tuesday’s match.
‘This is probably the most bizarre incident ever to occur in the Premiership and we feel that anyone who bet on Mendes is entitled to feel hard done by,” said the company spokesperson Graham Sharpe. —