Tuesday 15 March 2011

After Stoke Debacle, Technology is the Only Answer

I watch the cricket World Cup and see controversial dismissals referred to the third umpire. I watch the Six Nations rugby and see "tries" referred upstairs to check that they are legitimate. I go horse racing and a photo finish determines the winner. And yet here we are, in football, with game after game being won and lost not through the brilliance of the players, but because of the incompetence of the referees and his assistants.

I don't hold with the argument that the decisions even themselves out over a season. Will we be reinstated into the Cup later in the season? Will any three points be as important as the two we lost and the one Wolves gained as a result of Clattenbung's crazy decision in the last minute of our game at Molineaux? Will Arsenal get another bite at the Champions League this season?

The argument that technology would slow down the game is also nonsense. We knew by the time Etherington took his penalty that the decision was wrong. He wouldn't have tried it on in the first place had he known that his cheating would be exposed and a red card issued in consequence. Nor would Huth have pulled Hitz out of the wall had he known that the goal would be ruled out anyway and he would be given a red card for cheating. But anyway, the players were still celebrating the goal as TV replays revealed Huth's cheating. And as for the Walters foul on Tomkins, our players were still arguing with the referee as we watched the replay on TV.

The failure to use technology is a cheats charter. We want to see games decided fairly by players, not unfairly by incompetent or bent officials!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello HF, take a look on YouTube.com/thefacup and watch our highlights. The attempted defence of Jones' decisions is pathetic. For matty's dive he says he 'thinks it is a penalty' and for the attack on Tomkins he says 'you can't call that' and calls it a 50/50. I hear Avram may be facing an FA charge, for what? Speaking the truth. This country is a joke.

Headmaster said...

Agree 100% HF.
There are other arguments espoused by the tools who defend the status quo. One of them has to do with the fact that apparently it is a fundamental facet of the football family that every playing condition should be the same. Never mind that tennis grand slam events have hawk eye whereas the average tennis club and county match does not. Forget the video replays at rugby union internationals which are not reflected in their wider game. Disregard the review system which is now such an integral part of the international cricketing calendar (and in fact ADDS to the drama and the entertainment). Football cannot learn any lessons from any of these minority sports -Sepp has made that abundantly clear.
The other thing you'll hear is that it undermines the referee's authority and takes away from football's charm (the 'we'd have nothing to talk and argue about' brigade). Reactionaries in my view.
Lampard's 'goal' against Blatter's mob should have been the clincher. We've been promised a review but Jesus H Corbett, football is slower than slow john mcslow and as we all know, he is the slowest man this side of slowsville.

Anonymous said...

corrupt FIFA couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery......... they're all too old and flaccid to make a worthwhile decision between them

Jibbles said...

100% agree mate. We are being fobbed off with excuses because they do not give a flying monkeys about the average bloke watching the beautiful game and getting annoyed at the decision making. And take the power away from the referees? Do me a favour. Power is taken away from the referees as soon as they are intimidated in to making poor decisions. I was a referee in my teens, and I gave it up, because the constant harassment from the parents of the under 9's/10's/11's affected my decision making. At the time, I was not a strong enough person to block it out. You would think that PL refs would be able to judge 100% on what they see, but the phrase "they're only human" crops up. Fine, they are only human and are prone to mistakes...even more reason to give them the support they need through technology to make good calls.

One last point. Keeping it so that grass roots have the same standards as the PL as an argument for not implementing technology? 1/3 of local games don't have refs, and the lino's are parents. You wouldn't see that in the premier league.

Stani Army said...

"Don't tell me West Ham played better than us, in any aspect of the game,"

"We absolutely slaughtered them in the first half. We didn't out-muscle them, we out-played them."

Stoke City chairman Peter Coates

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/9426575.stm

T.I.S said...

Well you wont get a much more bias commentary from that youtube clip that's for sure.

USA Dave said...

Grant has been charged by the FA with improper conduct. Stunning.

Hammersfan said...

LOL Good point Jibbles! Fergie would be in favour of his players' Dads running the line!

Luke Eliot said...

Very sensible, HF. Am wondering though why so little has been made in the media about Huth's cheating on the Stoke 2nd goal. Chiles and co made no mention of it despite wittering endlessly about the Piq handball (which I still don't think was one). I've seen no newspaper articles mentioning this at all. Why not? It is one of the worst examples of blatant, planned cheating you'll ever see and certainly worthy of a red card.

Anonymous said...

As an American I have watched technology take over in sports, and to tell you the truth, it hasn't really helped. Yes there have been calls corrected, but what it really comes down to is the ability to complain or make an excuse for, and people will always make excuses. It does slow down the game, watch an american football game and youll go nuts with how many tech timeouts are needed. The big reason why i am against technology in futbol is because its just the beginning of the end. I say that because if you get technology in futbol, then you begin to add commercials, then sports become less about the game and more about the none sense owners making money... yes i know that exist today but look at american football... 9 billion a year and its still not enough!!!