Football will change profoundly with technology's mission creep, will be a poorer spectacle for it and many will come to regret it. I come back to it often, but the video referee in rugby league is now a standing joke, with matches regularly extended well beyond the two-hour mark to the point where Sky are now insisting they kick off earlier so they're done before 10, and decision after decision after decision after decision being reviewed by the video referee and coming back obviously incorrect. London Warrington a couple of weeks back, in the last minute with the score 38-40 London were awarded (rightly) a penalty for a late cannonball tackle (player held, third player comes in at the knees deliberately trying to hurt him) which they should have been able to kick for a draw. The video referee isn't allowed to adjudicate on such things, but watched it and spoke to the on field referee about it anyway. The result was the penalty, which was correct, wasn't awarded, and Warrington were given the ball instead. Warrington won by two points. Had the video not been there, the score would (rightly in the rules, and deservedly on the balance of play) have been 40-40. Goal line technology is good. Everything else is a road to ruin. Football will find, as rugby league has, that it's the same stupid humans operating the video referee system, and therefore the same human errors occur - only this time it's more frustrating because it delays the game for ages, and because even with half a dozen replays they still get it wrong. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. | |