This happened last night at the Stade de France, with Thierry Henry's handball allowing William Gallas to score a goal that gave France a 2-1 aggregate win in their World Cup playoff against Ireland.
There are simply no reasons for not having video replay in football. The idea that it would slow the pace of the game is nonsense. The video replay in rugby league or American football simply becomes part of the action and drama itself. And it is not as if football is never slowed by constant play acting, cynical time wasting or unnecessary substitutions either.
Those that complain that only the top levels of football would be able to afford to have it used also have no leg to stand on. Hawk-Eye in tennis and cricket may only be used in the big international or domestic tournaments, but it doesn't mean that your local club has to have it, and it certainly doesn't detract from the venue as a result.
Many claim that this controversy is what makes football the great talking point it is, but I would far rather have conversations on the more interesting side of the game; great players and great matches, not on whether a player has cheated to help his team to victory.
Equally there are those old conservative types who say, well if it is introduced, where does it end. Do we replay classically disputed ties, such as Maradona's hand of god game, which is a point so flippant that it hardly bears dealing with.
The problem is however, that it is these old conservative types who are running the game. Look at any sports newspaper today, or any independent football website and try to find one that isn't leading with Henry's handball on the front page. Now look at Fifa's, the world body, and organisation whose competition Henry will be starring in next year:
The story doesn't even make the top articles on the page. When we find a match report, it is not Henry whose name is emblazoned in the headline, but Gallas. Did this handball happen? Did we all imagine it?
Hidden away in the text we find this simple mention:
The story is the same whenever some other similar controversy arises that puts Fifa in a bad light. They simply pretend it hasn't happened.
What hope is there for world football?
Its an argument thats been going on for as long as I can remember, but I'm in agreement with you and I also fail to see why it is still yet to be introduced. Its the same with goal-line technology.
ReplyDeleteI guess the problem is that there are so many occasions in football where play can be stopped for action replays (fouls, offside, handball, dubious goals etc.) that a particularly stringent referee could stop the game every 30 seconds. But obviously its about exercising some judgement and common-sense.
It also seems the case where, particularly in football, two people can see the same event and come to a different conclusion. Spend 10 minutes watching Final Score and I guarantee you'll see at least one occasion of Mark Bright and Garth Crooks locking horns over some penalty decision or offside goal, even with the benefit of a replay.
I still think the game would benefit from replays. Many more arguments would be settled. But I still don't think its a change we'll be seeing anytime soon.