Football lags behind other sports in instant replays (News Feature)

By David Hein Jun 28, 2010, 11:23 GMT

Hamburg - More than a dozen sports have embraced advancements in technology and implemented some form of instant replay to assist officials at games. Football is not one of them.

But football may be forced to catch after Sunday's two Round of 16 matches at the 2010 World Cup featured grave refereeing errors that could have changed the outcome of the games had they been rectified.

With his team trailing Germany 2-1 late in the first half, Frank Lampard's shot struck the underside of the crossbar and landed about a yard beyond the goalline before coming back out into play. Uruguay referee Jorge Larrionda did not allow the would-be equalizing goal for England, who went on to lose 4-1.

Hours later, Carlos Tevez was clearly offside before scoring the first goal for Argentina in a 3-1 win over Mexico. Italian linesman Stefano Ayroldi did not see it that way and allowed the goal.

Especially hard at South Africa 2010 were the United States, who had what appeared to be two perfectly good goals disallowed in two of their matches in the group stage.

Despite the poor officiating, world football's governing body FIFA has steadfastly refused to install technological aides, ranging from a chip in the ball to a camera on the goal line.

'We want to keep football as a game of the people with a human face, so we don't want technology on the field of play because we want to maintain the spontaneity of football - played, administered and controlled by human beings,' FIFA President Joseph Blatter said before the start of the World Cup.

Critics of FIFA will note that so many other popular sports have taken advantage of the modern technology to help officials deal with murky situations.

Tennis, cricket, rugby (both league and union), basketball, American football, ice hockey and baseball all use some forms of instant replay. As do short track speed skating, Nascar motor sports, Canadian football, field hockey and even rodeo bull riding. And athletics and horse racing utilise technology for photo finishes.

Since 2007, tennis uses the so-called Hawk-Eye system to calculate the trajectory of the ball to determine if it's in play or not. A player is allowed up to three unsuccessful challenges - disputing a decision by the line-judge or umpire - per set and a fourth in a tiebreaker. The check takes a matter of seconds and has a margin of error of 3.6 millimetres.

The Hawk-Eye is also used in cricket - implemented in 2001 - and helps in appeals against some leg-before-wicket decisions. And there is a third umpire who uses instant replays to decide on run-outs and stumpings.

Since 1996, Rugby has had a video referee who can be called upon to assist in awarding tries.

In basketball, referees can review video replays if a shot left a player's hand before the buzzer went off as well as checking if a shot is worth two or three points. They also allow for referees to determine players being ejected from contests involving brawls or flagrant fouls.

In American football teams are only allowed a certain number of challenges per game, with the referee reviewing video replays. And the sport also limits the number of plays which can be reviewed.

The same is the case in baseball, where disputes about home runs or non-home runs are reviewable by video replay by the umpiring crew.

Instant replay has corrected a number of officiating mistakes in big games. In the National Hockey League and at the Winter Olympics and World Championships goals can be reviewed. And there is even a video replay judge who can initiate the review.

In the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, replays were twice used in the quarter-final between the US and Switzerland. Both times goals given on the ice were overruled by video evidence not to be goals.

In short track speed skating, video review may mean the difference between heading home with a gold medal or empty-handed.

At Vancouver, South Korea had won the women's relay race ahead of China. But after reviewing the replays, the chief referee disqualified the Koreans and handed the gold medal to China.

The International Skating Union allows referees to disqualify skaters for deliberately blocking, charging, impeding or pushing an opponent - also with the help of video replay.

South Korean Kim Dong Sung was also disqualified after a referee review at the 2002 Winter Games despite winning the 1,500 meter race.

If technology such as instant replay can overrule a short track speed skating gold medal, a rugby try, an in ball in tennis or a home run in baseball, why shouldn't it be used to help decide on a goal in football?