When will FIFA give in over goal-line tech?

So, it's that time again. Time to ask FIFA why we still haven't got goal-line technology. Why the people (and the referees) inside the football stadium are less well-placed to take make or break, million pound decisions than people like me eating crisps and watching Sky Sports at home.

Yesterday, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeer Heurelho Gomes fished a ball off the line and tried to insist the ball had never gone in. Cue a couple of minutes of confusion before the referee seemed to make a complete guess that the 'goal' should be given.

Watching it in super slow-mo on Match of The Day later that evening, you could tell that not all of the ball had crossed all of the line, as the goal rule dictates is necessary. Goal wrongly given, the game ends up 2-1 to Chelsea. The title race remains open and Tottenham might now miss out on a Champions League spot.

You can't blame the referee and his assistant for getting it wrong. In real-time, it's just impossible to say for sure what the right decision was. But had they seen the TV pictures, the game would have rightly ended 1-1.

So why are FIFA still dragging their heels over goal-line technology? It is a question which has been asked a hundred times, most notably in the World Cup game between England and Germany last year where Frank Lampard's five-yards-over-the-line goal wasn't given.

But it's a question we must keep asking. It is crazy that in 2011 we still can't use the technology we have at our disposal to help determine something crucial to the whole sport - like whether a goal is scored.

Video technology didn't do rugby any harm; a sport which has brilliantly adapted to modern times and blended traditional officiating with video evidence to the benefit of the game.

If video or goal-line technology is only brought in for goals (and maybe offsides), there's no reason at all it would slow football. We could even have a tennis-style system where each team gets three checks of the video every game.

Then there's the argument that it makes the game unequal, because the Premier League and the flashy money-soaked divisions will get video tech, whereas the lower leagues must struggle on without it because of the expense. It hardly seems fair to have a sport where refereeing accuracy is dependent on the size of your stadium or the sponsorship cheque of the division you play in, detractors argue.

Tosh. The best referees operate at the highest level. So should the best technology. With all due respect to the Isthmian league, and other such 'amateur' divisions, never will there be a goal decision which could be worth tens of millions of pounds down there. The same can't be said of Gomes' goal-line fumble at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

Sepp Blatter has given countless flimsy excuses as to why it hasn't been implemented. It's too expensive, none of the tech is accurate enough, it gives the fans something to talk about, and so on.


What it does do is give the fans something to harass the referee about. If every bloke screaming abuse at the ref after a decision went against them knew that the officals had watched indisputable TV pictures, then they'd have to shut up. Give referees more accuracy, and you give them more respect.

Accuracy is a big sticking point. Chip-in-ball systems may be better than people, but none of the systems which have been trialled have been 100% accurate, apparently. Well, 99% has got to be better than what we have now.

Even if chipping footballs is a non-starter, TV replays are surely a must. Personally, I don't see why we can't have a video official watching the TV feed on the sideline at every game. If they see an injustice unfolding, it would only take thirty seconds to check the replays and tell the ref. Sky/BBC/ITV pundits usually tell us if a goal should stand before play has resumed.

It wouldn't undermine the referee, either. It's not like the ref would run over to the video man every two minutes. It would just be a whisper in the ear if he's about to do something a bit silly.

Case in point: remember at the last world cup when Tevez scored an offside goal for Argentina which was accidentally replayed on the stadium's mega-screen? The referees gave the goal, then saw the replay but were powerless to do anything about it. It was ridiculous then, but what's even more ridiculous is that almost a year later, nothing has moved on.

Blatter promised to look at technology after Lampard's ghost goal. So where is it?

If FIFA truly care about football, they will get with the times and turn to technology. And it's not just FIFA, but the FA, the Premier League and UEFA which need to act.

In the immortal words of Ian Holloway, "The game is wrong. The people in charge of the game are wrong. I'm not naming names, I'm just telling them they're wrong. They are so wrong it is frightening".

How many more Gomes moments will it take? How many more ungiven goals? Who knows. But it's a question we simply must keep asking. It's time to kick inaccuracy out of football.