THE EDITOR, Sir:
FIFA and the host countries, Japan and Korea, ought to be congratulated for staging what must be one of the greatest World Cups ever. The finals were most enjoyable and inspiring. Football is doing for the world what politics and religion have failed to accomplish. People of all races, religion, creed and political persuasion participated. Countries are able to compete in an emotionally charged atmosphere without being hostile to each other. Football is more than a game. It shapes the character and personality of the players.
The quality of refereeing has come up for questioning and rightly so. If steps are not taken to improve this, it will eventually bring the World Cup into disrepute. The use of video evidence has been suggested as one way to deal with the problem. However, FIFA seems set against this, the reason being that it will interrupt the flow of the game. But this does not have to be the case.
Firstly, all goals should be reviewed by video before being awarded. This will in no way interrupt the flow of the game since the game is always stopped when a goal is scored. Based on the evidence, goals can then be allowed or disallowed. This will remove the problem of controversial goals. In this case, the famous Maradona 'hand of God' goal would have been disallowed. The goals that Spain scored against Korea in this World Cup would have been awarded.
Secondly, referees should not blow the whistle for off side. The game should be allowed to continue. Three scenarios are possible:
1) That a goal is scored. In this case the video evidence will show if the goal was off-side, and so, it will be disallowed.
2) The ball goes out of play. The game will then be automatically stopped. Video evidence can then be used to determine how to proceed. For example, if the goalkeeper saves the goal and the ball goes out of play for a corner, the corner will not be allowed since it originated from an off-side play.
3) The opposing side regains the advantage. Once this happens, what is the use in stopping the game?
Thirdly, all appeals for handball and fouls that occur in the penalty area should be taken seriously and the game stopped and subjected to the video evidence. In this case, a penalty would have been awarded to the United States in their match against Germany. Players can be tricky, so the video evidence must also be used to penalise those players that deliberately make false and unjustified appeals.
It must be realised that referees cannot see everything. Video evidence is the best aid that they can get in this day and age. In this respect football is behind other major sports. Track and field has been using the photo-finish for a long time now. Even cricket has introduced video evidence.
The use of video evidence cannot but improve the quality of the game and refereeing. It simply makes no sense for someone in his living room thousands of miles away from the game to see the truth of the game and the referee doesn't know.
I am etc.,
EARLE H. HARRISON
earle_harrison@hotmail.com
George's Valley
Box 535, Mandeville
Via Go-Jamaica
