So England scored a goal that didn’t count because the referee didn’t see it and now my English friends are suddenly of the opinion that perhaps a smidgen of technology might not be the end of the beautiful game.
But… I have to say that this case isn’t the best for either introducing video refereeing or sexy be-chipped soccer balls. The ball was in by about two yards. There wasn’t a tough judgment call that needed to be made here that could have gone either way. They just needed someone on the field seeing the goal! So we need some line judges, with flags. Their only job would be to raise the flag when the ball crosses the line; the head referee would still sort out whether someone was offsides, diving, or American* when figuring out whether he should disallow the goal.
I get that the simplicity of soccer is something a lot of people value, and that there’s something to be said for not chasing down every new whizbang technological solution, but I think colorful flags on sticks are proven technology.
*I know, I know. It’s not prejudice against Americans, but global incompetence, but it was too much fun to type.
The Edge of the American West 
13 comments
June 29, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Standpipe Bridgeplate
Zidane va-t-il marquer quelque chose? Oui, Zidane y va marquer.
June 29, 2010 at 7:09 pm
dana
You’re right. I couldn’t figure out why it didn’t look right, which gives you an idea of how weak my French is when I’m not vais-ing a la fac.
June 29, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Standpipe Bridgeplate
That’s probably wrong in its own special way. Felicitations à tout le monde.
June 29, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Standpipe Bridgeplate
Je vais proposer une histoire …
June 29, 2010 at 7:25 pm
dana
Nous allons a la fac! Zidane il a frappe!
June 29, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Matthew Ernest
Thus we establish once again that ice hockey is the most technologically advanced sport.
June 29, 2010 at 7:45 pm
eric
You know, there are assistant referees whose job is in part to perform the function you describe. Which suggests that the problem isn’t in fact the number of officials or their role.
June 29, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Josh
You know, there are assistant referees whose job is in part to perform the function you describe. Which suggests that the problem isn’t in fact the number of officials or their role.
But the assistant referees are responsible for other things, too (most obviously offside and out-of-bounds calls), which takes their attention away from goal calls (and means they’re not always in good position to make a goal call). What dana’s proposing is basically what UEFA did in the Europa League this past season.
June 30, 2010 at 2:21 am
dana
You know, there are assistant referees whose job is in part to perform the function you describe.
Right. I’m suggesting that there’s someone whose only job is to keep an eye on the goal line, not also on the players and the sidelines.
June 30, 2010 at 3:01 am
mark
And they could also keep on eye on Thierry Henry’s hands.
June 30, 2010 at 11:18 am
Barry
It’s frikkin’ soccer, dudes!
You know – run around for 90 minutes with no scoring, and then decide the game by penalty kicks. They should just get rid of the rest of the game, and make it all penalty kicks.
Here’s my proposed game:
1) Some sort of coin flip to determine who goes first/which goal they get. Ten minutes (with ritual and blah-blah-blah).
2) Five penalty kicks for the first team to go – this should take five minutes (again,with ritual and blah-blah-blah).
3) Intermission, to sell more beer – 30 minutes.
4) Five penalty kicks for the second team to go – five minutes.
Total time: 50 minutes.
Total points: just a tad more than in a regulation soccer match.
The only flaw is that I want a (5), where the score would be tied, so that there’s always a sudden-death ‘kick-off’.
June 30, 2010 at 1:57 pm
grackle
Something like this?
June 30, 2010 at 6:46 pm
jvhillegas
@grackle: Yeah, I’d say that’s about sums it up.