GOAL LINE TECHNOLOGY NOT ALL IT MAKES OUT TO BE!

The 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championships in Peru, were used to test a new piece of equipment invented by adidas, Cairos and the Fraunhofer-Institut in Germany to indicate to the referee whether or not the ball has crossed the goal line for a goal and whether the ball has gone out of play at the touchline.

The results seem to have been less than the outstanding success hoped for and must raise questions whether such unproven technology can be introduced for the FIFA World Cup in 2006, although it will be tested again, with some modifications, at the FIFA World Club Championship in Japan in December 2005.

(Note from Julian Carosi - further tests have been cancelled and the technology will not be used on the World Cup 2006).

There seem to be a number of problems. Firstly there is a delay of 2-3 seconds before the signal that a ball has crossed the goal line is relayed to the referee.

This would be an unacceptable delay in a match situation. Also the accuracy of the equipment must be 100%. There appear to have been cases where, in pre-tournament demonstrations, the signal has shown that the ball has crossed the line when in fact it is only lying on the line.

Another problem which has emerged is the situation when a ball goes over the crossbar and rests on the top of the goal net. The equipment has wrongly registered this as a goal.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, there is a problem when there are two balls on the field, one perhaps thrown on too quickly by a ball boy. The equipment apparently crashes for up to 30 seconds and no signal is received by the referee.

There still seem to be problems with the use of goal line technology. Many firms and individuals have attempted to find a solution over the past 10 years but none has been found to be suitable. There would be considerable cost involved in installing the equipment and maintaining it and perhaps it would be needed only once a season, or not at all.

Maybe we should just accept that referees and their assistants get most of the goal line decisions correct and if a wrong decision is made it should be accepted as part of the game. A human error made in a game which is full of other errors by players and coaches as well.