We were robbed but technology is the answer

Although we are in principle a site offering tips advice and news about online gaming, we are also an Irish site so it would be remiss not to have some comment about the cheating scandal in the World Cup qualifier against France. There is no doubt that Thierry Henry handled the ball, he even admitted the fact, and there is no doubt that the goal should have been disallowed and we assume would have been had any of the officials seen it. So apart from the question about a replay which has not unexpectedly been refused, the real question here is how can we assist officials to make correct decisions and the answer has got be TV Technology. How is it possible that we have such technology that allows the whole world to see what actually happened and yet the referee is not allowed to refer to it? How stupid is that and how long can the situation continue?

Other sports have readily taken up the technology and nobody questions its use; Rugby League has had video replays for an extra official in use since 1996 (that is thirteen years ago!) ruling on virtually every aspect of the game except a forward pass. Sure, the referee has to ask for it but they have no qualms about doing so; referees that request assistance are much more highly respected than those that don’t and make mistakes. Rugby Union has also adopted the technology but so far only for some decisions. Cricket, while not that popular in our country, has adopted the third umpire for things such as run outs or stumpings but decisions that relate to what might have happened to the ball eg; LBW remain firmly in the hands of the umpire. Tennis on the other hand is quite happy to use technology about the possible flight of a ball. American Football uses it all the time but that is quite easy as the game is frequently stopped anyway.

It would be unreasonable to stop a game for the specific purpose of a video replay but when a goal is scored (or not in this case) it would be very easy to refer so why is FIFA so resistant?

In the meantime let’s hope we get a replay.