Should goal-line technology be implemented?

“Every other major sport embraces tech[nology]. Tennis uses HawkEye. The NFL uses replays. Etc. But no. Football decides the stay in the dark ages.” – @Juventus_FC_Fan

There have been many instances in football in which replay technology could have, and arguably should have been used. The 1966 World Cup Final stands out. England were playing Germany, and with the scores tied at 2 all in extra time, Geoff Hurst smashed a shot off the crossbar, down over(?) the line, and back out again. Germany argued it wasn’t a goal; England argued it was. The referee decided it had crossed the line, and England won the game 4-2. Skip a couple decades: 4th of January, 2005. Tottenham Hotspurs midfielder Pedro Mendes sees the Manchester United goalkeeper, Roy Carroll, off his line, and lobs him from the half-way line. The ball bounces a meter into the goal, but Carroll pulls it out again, and with no linesman in sight, no goal was given. Even more recently, Sunderland stunned league leaders Manchester City, as Ji Dong-Won grabbed a 90th minute winner against City. What’s the catch? Dong-won was actually in an offside position.Whenever a major game has some sort of debatable refereeing call or a dubious goal decision, there is always uproar from the footballing community for some sort of technology. Juventus, recently denied two penalties in a game against Parma, demanded “equal treatment” (Juventus club statement) from Serie A, and are yet to see if anything will be done about it. Although no formal decision has been made yet, doesn’t mean Juventus fans are afraid of showing how extremely unhappy they are (see above tweet).The truth is that every other major sport in the world uses some sort of technology. In the NHL (National Hockey League), countless replay decisions are made every season. In the 2012 NFL SuperBowl, Eli Manning’s 38-yard catch was ruled to be legal by replay technology. In the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, Nadal challenged the decision of a shot that was called out. Hawk-Eye technology ruled the ball was actually in, and Nadal won the point.So why doesn’t FIFA implement goal-line technology? They seem very reluctant to bring in new technology, but would rather just have better refereeing. But when a referee is near the halfway line (see Pedro Mendes’ goal that wasn’t), is there really anyway to improve the referees sight to a point where he can spot a goal from a hundred yards away? FIFA have suggested that there “could” be additional referees in 2014, but will that really solve the problem? FIFA say there is no zero fault system, but goal line technology is as close as it gets. Goal-line technology could be easy to use too, as sensors in the ball can tell the referee if the ball went in or not in a matter of milliseconds.

So you can easily argue goal-line technology could easily be integrated to professional football.But should it?As football fans, do we really want technology in football? Would it make things better or worse? If we did integrate replay/goal-line technology into football, the sport becomes a science. All irrational calls, all debatable decisions are eliminated, and everything becomes perfect. Do we, as football fans, would be wanting that? Take the Sunderland vs Man City game. If we had replays, the Sunderland goal would have been (correctly) ruled offside, and Sunderland wouldn’t have won one of the most memorable games of the season. Once you get rid of everything that makes football so unpredictable, the magic is lost. Underdogs lose all possibilities of a generous refereeing decision, or a freak goal. Yes, goal-line technology would dispose of any bad calls, but what are the repercussions of that?

In my opinion, all the things that make football imperfect are the same things that make football perfect. Put in goal-line technology and you take away the magic.Teams will always complain when decisions don’t go their way (I whined for days after England’s goal against Germany at the 2010 World Cup was disallowed), but what they really should be doing is making sure that bad decisions never go away.Written by Cormac O’BrienFollow him on Twitter @obrienfootball