No more human error: Let The Machines Rise
COMOX, BC ● A referee who I still consider as one of the world’s best ever, still is not ready to embrace goal-line technology.
Even after another totally disgraceful decision by not allowing Ukraine an equaliser against England, former top referee and today’s boss of all referees Pierluigi Collina still says technology has no place in today’s football.
Unbelievable.
You know who that reminds me of? My math teacher in grade 11.
I can still remember clearly how he showed us students one of the first electronic calculators.
“It is a miracle machine, absolutely fantastic”, while he caressed the small grey plastic case of the Invention of The Century.
“But”, as you know there is always a but. ‘But”, he said, “You will never be allowed to use it do your home work or during your exams !”
Yeah right, see where that went not much later. Right out of the window.
It is called progress.
And so is goal-line technology.
It would be nice if we did not need it, the truth is at a professional level we absolutely do.
We can make concessions and let humans make their mistakes at amateur levels. I think everybody will be fine with that.
We don’t need it when our kids get into a discussion whether the ball crossed the line or not. Too bad, score a couple of goals more to make up for it.
At a professional level, where the stakes in today’s commercial market are that high, goal-line technology has to be introduced today rather than tomorrow.
The stakes are simply too high.
Both Sepp Blatter – now suddenly a reborn goal-line technologist – and Michel Platini have been working as dogs to get the bling into football. So much money is involved, that sometimes you wonder that there is still space for countries like Poland, Ukraine and yes even Greece, to make it to the final of a big tournament.
Like Quark used to say in Star Trek: There is no profit in that.
The smaller football nations don’t have Messi’s, Ronaldo’s and Rooney’s in their midst who attract the big companies to spend billions on soccer rights.
But surely that won’t be the reason for not introducing goal-line technology instantly. Nobody will ever be able to blame ‘sorry, human error’ for the fact that not France but Ukraine would advance to the next round of a big tournament.
And believe me, I don’t think this is the circumstance now.
In the case of denying goal-line technology, it is that other human element. The craving for nostalgia. The good old days. Old School. The inability to adapt to a new age and time.
Technology is here, it will never go away. Now embrace it and use it, for everybody’s and football’s sake.
