Should the English Premiership introduce technology to aid referees?

[Gromit]

Should the English Premiership introduce technology to aid referees, irrespective of FIFA's wishes not to allow it.

- Every EPL match is televised, and instant playback is available
- The game is so fast these days that officials cannot be expected to detect such rapid action unaided
- Mistakes that everyone can see are wrong, bring the game into disrepute
- Most other sports allow it, Cricket, Tennis, Rugby
- The EPL can afford to implement it
- Just one wrong decision can cost a team a lot of money in relegation or missing winning the title*

* Drogba's miles offside goal in Chelsea's clash with Manchester United was the difference between 3 points for a win or 1 point for a draw. The title was eventually won by one point.

[joggerjayne]

Yes, then.

[Mick-Talbot]

Why mention the last bit?

[weecalf]

They talked about that yesterday .I did not understand what they were saingy about how far you good back in an incident .I would have though an offside goal would have resulted in a goal kick .An over the line goal as per the usual restart .If or when they do bring it in then they should start trying the players by video .If a player dives or feins injury send him off and deduct a goal from his team .If the have not scored ban him for three games .

[rowanwitch]

Yes but only for offside,hand ball and crossing the line queries I think... also like tennis maybe limit the number of'challenges' per match to avoid abuse and time wasting
on the subject of timing can we go to the way they time rugby matches with time off and time on looked after by the 4th official so there can be no more episodes of unfair Man U time

[jackthehat]

Isn't the argument 'against' something along the lines of the fact that the laws of football can, presently, be equally applied at Old Trafford, Hackney Marshes and an abandoned airstrip in Bulawayo................but if *technology* is brought in, only the richer teams will benefit ?

If FIFA are reluctant to implement the use of *technology* across the footballing world, in general, they should be able to formulate exceptions for tournaments, of whatever standing.

[joggerjayne]

So Chelsea are not really the champions?

I KNEW it !!

[rowanwitch]

Yes they are and they've got a trophy to prove it.....

[R1Geezer]

They could have a ref in the video box like rugby does but the problem is that it can only work when play has stopped. In the case of the "goal" last night, if it's not a goal then play continues, they could go all the way up the other end and score then the ball is dead. do you then review it and disallow the second goal because the first one was in fact a goal? See the problem? It can work for offside goals though as the ball is dead so It's either a goal or an indirect free kick to the defence. There's no issue with the level of the game, in rugby it's only the top flight games that have the video ref, the rest manage as before.

[LisaB]

Definitely. The technology means that it's an instant replay and the officials don't have to make questionable decisions. Also, as far as taking too long... I don't hold with that! Usually there's a minimum of a minute or so where the players are disputing it and yelling at the ref that he's wrong... at least this way, he can prove he's in the right (or not!).

[R1Geezer]

there wasn't last night because the ball was still live Lisa, in fact we very nearky did concede at the other end.

[Mick-Talbot]

The linesman was bent, that was clear when Defoe hit the bar with a header, he was onside but the dodgy linesman said it was offside.

[Gromit]

There is some minimal Technology used at present. At Old Trafford, and indeed all televised games, the officials are connected by radio microphones and can instantly talk to each other. Yet I do not see this same technology being deployed on Hackney Marshes and an abandoned airstrip in Bulawayo by the officials.

That must mean either the rules must be equal for everyone argument is bogus, or the game is already biased to favour the richer clubs.

[R1Geezer]

the technology needs to be optional Gromit, as in Rugby now, that's all. The linesman can signal a goal even now without radio but I reckon last nights one was either bent or blind.

[weecalf]

If the match was awful like so many are .They could show an episode of Fawlty Towers on the big screen instead