Bad Refereeing in the World Cup?
Different sport, same idiots.
Fans were completely heart-broken. Fans of the English Football World Cup team, that is. Unbelievably, England lost 1-4 to Germany, which the BBC called “clinical” – a term that probably refers to the unassuming, rather colourless yet incredible strategic gameplay of the Germans. Could technology have helped reversed England’s fortunes on the field that fateful day?
“Controversially, England were not given a goal when 2-1 down, despite the ball crossing the line, and Germany will now face Argentina in the quarter finals,” reported the BBC. And it was England’s worst World Cup finals defeat.
Interestingly, both the prime minister of England David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel managed to catch the game live at the G20 summit in Canada, albeit just the second half. And the German Chancellor apologised to the English PM for the disallowed goal.
According to the BBC, Mr Cameron later appeared to support calls to introduce video technology to the sport. He said: “I do think the use of technology in sport can be a bonus. I’m a keen follower of cricket and tennis and I think the third umpire has been a great thing, and the machines that bleep at Wimbledon are quite handy too. Maybe that’s something that football could now have a look at.”
Now, that’s going to renew calls for the use of technology to settle precisely the sort of controversies like the goal denied to the English team over the weekend.
Nevertheless, England was convincingly defeated, and Germany’s three-goal lead is an indelible record for the history books, no matter how controversial the denied goal was.
Using video technology to assist the umpires (assist, not replace) should have been implemented, according to the Bleacher Report. But why not?
Heck, the tennis world has long embraced technology in helping the umpires to settle disputes, so why can’t the soccer world do likewise? Check out the ITF website here for more information on what electronic line calling and HawkEye systems are. And, the tennis people have been doing this since 2006! What’s holding up the soccer world? Technology doesn’t lie, does it?
Meanwhile, for those of you who want to relive the painful (or delightful) moments of goals denied and many other referee blunders, check out the following monumental moments on YouTube. You don’t need to know the language; video speaks a thousand words…
England vs Germany, 2010 World Cup (Payback for 1966?)
England vs Germany, 1966 World Cup (Where it all started?)
AC Milan vs Juventus (goal highlights)
USA vs Honduras, 2010 World Cup Qualifiers
Graham Poll’s three card trick
Ali Bin Nasser misses Maradona’s “The Hand of God”
Harold Schumacher wins a goal kick after taking out Patrick Battiston
Australia, “Socceroos”, knocked out by a controversial Italian penalty
Zico uses his head, referee Clive Thomas doesn’t
The English were appalling but the refereeing was absurd! They deserved to go home. Heck, I’ll even predict their breakfast menu, “humble pie!”
Personally, I feel that the call for the footballing world to embrace technology is as what FIFA has stated many times – the world game is quintessentially for the people, and removing the “human” element, and hence any resultant controversy, will change the sport too fundamentally. Now I am no Luddite and I feel that technology in certain sporting arenas is apt, such as in the case of tennis, but I think we need to further delve and understand why tennis has managed to incorporate and mold Hawkeye technology into itself. The amount of times a tennis ball actually comes millimeters close to or on the line in a single tennis match happens too often, and thus consequently, the erring of umpires or linesmen/women also increases in frequency.
I like the way football is at the moment, and as we clearly have observed, Germany out-classed England last night regardless of whether the goal was allowed or not. Although Fabio Capello begs to differ (he suggests that the style of play, and the result would be different if England had managed to equalize), I do strongly feel that the introduction of technology will serve to retard the sport of football by introducing even more rigidity. I mean, who is to say what extent technology should be implemented, if at all? Do we need cameras to call fouls, off-sides, handballs, etc. for us too next? Let the game be the game, enjoy it in all its glory, controversy and all.