Men in black say mistakes are part of the game

By Veronica Sardon and Diana Renee Jun 10, 2006, 0:07 GMT

Frankfurt - Referees taking charge of matches in Germany have never been better prepared, but the men in black admit they are not perfect.

And they don't think technology is the answer to the problem of refereeing mistakes, illustrated by Paulo Wanchope's apparent offside goal for Costa Rica in Friday's opening match with Germany.

England still grumble about Diego Maradona's 'hand of God' goal in the 1986 tournament, while the Germans have produced software to bolster their claim that Geoff Hurst's second goal for England in the 1966 final never crossed the line.

The sport's governing body FIFA has consistently rejected video technology to overrule refereeing clangers, and chip technology to settle the over-the-line dilemma was judged unreliable in a trial last year.

Swiss official Massimo Busacca dismissed any need to tinker with the game.

'I believe football is good as it is. But as a human being, a referee has to accept that he can make mistakes,' said the man who takes charge of Spain's opener against Ukraine on Wednesday.

Spain's Luis Medina Cantalejo agrees it is well-nigh impossible to rule out mistakes.

'We don't have screens, replays, reverse angles,' he says. 'What we do have is our ability to get in the right position and our will to do our best.'

And he believes technology would devalue the game.

Paraguay's Carlos Amarilla adds ominously: 'To err is human, to forgive is divine.'

FIFA referees' commission chairman Angel Marķa Villar of Spain says technology needs to be flawless before it can be introduced.

'We agree that line technology needs to be developed but we have not yet obtained the results we wanted,' he said.

The one innovation referees have welcomed is the ear-pieces that allow the man in the middle to communicate with his assistant referees on the touchlines.

Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere, who takes charge of Argentina's opener with Ivory Coast on Saturday, believes it helps them foresee incidents.

'It helps us to talk to each other and to anticipate situations,' he says.

FIFA decided against goal-line technology at the 2006 World Cup after a trial run at the under-17 World Championships in Peru with a 'smartball' system proved less than reliable.

With the system, balls fitted with a microchip send a signal to the referee when they have crossed the line.

But FIFA president Sepp Blatter has warned the 2006 World Cup referees they will be dropped if they do not perform well, although he agreed to err was human.

'They can make an error, but not an error about the protection of the players,' he said before the tournament kicked off.

Referees have been given an eight-point list of the worst offences to crack down on, including diving, elbowing, over-the-top tackles, mass dissent and time-wasting.

But the official thinking is that if FIFA make it too scientific, the game will lose its fascination.