Blatter/Platini 1, Common Sense 0

[H. Pedersen]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 076829.stm

Next season's Europa League - formerly the Uefa Cup - will be the testing ground for games using five officials.

The trial will see two extra assistant referees officiate by standing behind the goals and communicating by headset.

Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham are among more than 150 clubs set to play their European games under the system.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: "We were looking where we can have such experiments. Now we have found a solution together with Uefa."

The idea is credited to Uefa president Michel Platini, who opposes goal-line technology and wants to retain a human element in decision-making.

The system involves an extra official standing on the side of each goal assisting the referee and two touchline assistants by communicating through headsets.

European football's governing body Fifa and its rule-making arm, the International Football Association Board, ordered a trial of the system last year as an alternative to using video replays.

Uefa used the five-official system at last year's under-19 European Championship qualifying matches in Slovenia, Hungary and Cyprus, where it was hailed a success.

Having an extra pair of eyes monitoring play in each area had a preventive effect and promoted better decision making on suspected fouls.

Players were less prone to shirt-pulling at corners and free kicks, diving in the area and dissent, it reported.

The announcement that matches in the Europa League will be played with the experimental system came after a two-day meeting of Fifa's executive committee in Nassau.

Great, now they can employ two more idiots to show bias towards Liverpool. Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

[TANGODANCER]

Great, now they can employ two more idiots to show bias towards Liverpool. Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

Too honest. No room for human error or bias. Spoil the game completely if it were all fair and square. Imagine Ferguson not
being able to convince refs to give penalties because technology showed his players had dived? No chance.

[blurred]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

[Bruce Rioja]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

Well, there's clearly no need for it.

[Bruce Rioja]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Care to put some meat onto those rather brittle bones?

[Verbal]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

You could say the same for any form of professional sport which has a professional level and a grass roots level - Rugby, cricket, for instance. I'd wager that most people would say both those sports are better off with video-ref/third umpires.

Granted having a laserr beamed across the goal line would be costly, but I still don't see what is wrong with using video replays at games for the fourth, even a fifth official to rule on a goal or whatever. That can't be too costly, non?

[H. Pedersen]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Wouldn't that also be true of the 4th and 5th officials?

[Leyther_Matt]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

But that exists all over the country as it is when games take place without linesmen etc.

[Bruno]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Commonly known as the TalkSport defence

[Tombwfc]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

But that exists all over the country as it is when games take place without linesmen etc.

And how many lower league Cricket games have a 3rd umpire?

[spraggy]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Do matches lower down the pyramid have radio link-up between the ref and his assistants?

[Frandsen08]

oh so 3 official struggle sometimes to reach an agreement, and then if they do they then still sometimes get it wrong, now they want 5!!

sepp blatter is an idiot, and platini is and english hating gimp

[blurred]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Wouldn't that also be true of the 4th and 5th officials?

No, last time I checked it was possible for an extra two human beings to attend any football match in this capacity, whether it's the Premier League or the park pitch.

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with or disagree with video technology, you just asked for reasons that would be against it and I provided a few.

[blurred]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Do matches lower down the pyramid have radio link-up between the ref and his assistants?

No, but then it's not in the laws of the game that they should, so I'm not sure of the point. The technology is there as an aid to communication at the top level, not an imposition on the laws of the game as something that has to be provided. The matches lower down the pyramid don't have 10,000 voices (or 20, 30, 50, whatever thousand) making the ref's job of communicating more difficult.

Again, I'm not arguing in favour of or against technology, just answering a question that was asked.

[blurred]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

But that exists all over the country as it is when games take place without linesmen etc.

Which means they're not adhering to the laws of the game, but presumably the park teams that do this agree to it beforehand. More due to a lack of qualified refs available to do this at Sunday league rather than a desire to just do away with linesmen, I'd fancy. Getting a ref on a Sunday morning can be near-on impossible, never mind 3, but that's not to say that the laws of the game have changed for really low level football, just that the infrastructure isn't there to support it.

[blurred]

Granted having a laserr beamed across the goal line would be costly, but I still don't see what is wrong with using video replays at games for the fourth, even a fifth official to rule on a goal or whatever. That can't be too costly, non?

Depends what you define as 'too costly', I s'pose.

I'm personally amazed that there isn't some form of goal-line technology in place in the top leagues in Europe already, though. Would've fancied that to have been done well before now.

[enfieldwhite]

Granted having a laserr beamed across the goal line would be costly, but I still don't see what is wrong with using video replays at games for the fourth, even a fifth official to rule on a goal or whatever. That can't be too costly, non?

Depends what you define as 'too costly', I s'pose.

I'm personally amazed that there isn't some form of goal-line technology in place in the top leagues in Europe already, though. Would've fancied that to have been done well before now.

Are you?

Blurred said:

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

[blurred]

Granted having a laserr beamed across the goal line would be costly, but I still don't see what is wrong with using video replays at games for the fourth, even a fifth official to rule on a goal or whatever. That can't be too costly, non?

Depends what you define as 'too costly', I s'pose.

I'm personally amazed that there isn't some form of goal-line technology in place in the top leagues in Europe already, though. Would've fancied that to have been done well before now.

Are you?

Blurred said:

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Yep. Notwithstanding the potential arguments against technology in football, for all the high-profile clangers that have already been documented (like the one Bruce posted above), for all the money that's swilling around in the game at the moment, for all the potential sums of cash/title that one error could cost a team, I'm amazed that they've not brought it in already.

[americantrotter]

Refresh my memory, what's wrong with goal-line technology?

The fact that you'd be making a change to the laws of the game that couldn't be applied evenly? That it would have prohibitive costs for clubs far down the football pyramid? The fact that it'd effectively create two tiers of competition?

Not to pile on, but since when has anyone in the top leagues given a flying feck about the lower reaches?

[blurred]

Not to pile on, but since when has anyone in the top leagues given a flying feck about the lower reaches?

Not very often, but then you'd either need to amend the laws of the game (which is fraught with danger when applying this to every game of football sanctioned by the FA in this country, of which there are tens of thousands every season), or the rules of a competition (ie make it Premier League only). Neither of these are ideal situations, as it furthers a break between the existing strands of the professional game in this country, or makes an unenforceable or potentially financially ruinous rule at anything below a certain level of football.