The soccer technology conundrum

[Helghast]

Another thing that Sepp Blatter and the other heads of UEFA (Platini etc) are well aware of is that most noise is made by people that aren't true soccer fans. These "bad decisions" are really only a problem in internationals and week in week out they happen in the premiership, la liga etc but the fans have to come to live with it. You get some bad calls going against you, and some going for you... its part of the hate for the game.

Actually incorrect in the EPL when something bad that the ref should've saw happen or didnt the fans go crazy. its just only when something Really! bad happens then you hear about it on the news and stuff because it was something that was very dramatic or something either way the fans especially the true! fans always complain when something goes wrong when it could've been avoided if there were video refs. and seriously! "Why even have an on-field ref?" you cant consult a video ref for the full game! no sport works like that!

 

[Tanarri]

Nice article Ben. Nice post McT, not sure tho if Ben was being 100% serious at the end there

phiber, I'll admit I'm not a "true soccer fan", but I'll be calling soccer the stupid game until they bring technology and justice to the world cup. I realise one can't bring out all the bells and whistles for soccer at lower levels of play, but if u r gonna be broadcasting to the planet and showing tv replays to them u can't expect them to be happy about the BS we see on TV.

And Suarez playing goalie and handball stopping Ghana's goal last night was a travesty of justice. Just gonna encourage more players to handball stop the ball in future because that was a definite goal in my opinion!

Well, the mistake of the guy from Uruguay was about the distance from his hand to his head. I wouldn't say it would encourage players to handball stop 'more' at all. Any person on the planet with the capability of reacting fast enough would've done the exact same thing - with the exception of a few that could actually have reached the ball with their head. Ghana got a chance to fix it and they blew it. Sad story (not really).

On another note: Netherlands is going to beat Uruguay and would have beaten Ghana. ;-)

 

[Renesongs]

Having watched all the things the Refs didn't see I say hell yes lets embrace the technology lets have 22 or more cameras focused on every player and strategic points such as goal and side lines and have as many officials monitoring them in real time. That way there would be little or no need to have to stop and replay. Hell the ref doesn't have to be on the field and there would be no one for the players to argue with just the voice of god and a giant score screen. The Americans would certainly take more interest in the game because that's the way they play their sports on the other side of the pond.

 

[DJ...]

Sorry but a sensor in the ball just will not work, because in soccer the entire ball has to cross the line, not just part of it. So one would need sensors over the entire ball. However a simple solution such as a laser system that monitors when the laser is broken would work. You would need about 30 lasers that feed back to a data monitoring system, but even in this scenario I believe that a TV ref is still necessary to make the final call as a player could block the sensors if he is inside the goal.

I don't believe that a TV ref can be used for offsides and fouls though, considering the nature of soccer. Nor can technology be used effectively imo considering a player's pinky finger can place him in an offside position and fouls are very subjective - it certainly would slow the game down far too much. The referral system might work if a captain can only refer for handballs and offsides if a goal is awarded or disallowed, and only once play has stopped - not for fouls as he could then refer to incidents prior to the goal being scored or disallowed (i.e. to an incident a minute before the goal was scored or disallowed.) I do however believe that a citing system is long overdue in soccer, for both players and officials...

 

[LazyLion]

now you are talking rubbish... Rugby stops so much they actually have to stop the clock to keep track of whats going on!!!!... Please explain to me exactly when were they suppose to review that england goal??????? If they do it straight away, they stop the game and that just doesn't fly because it breaks the flow of the game.... If they wait for the ball to go dead, and a goal is scored between the time of incident and review that goal has to be disallowed and the ball is brought back to the half way line. Both these cases COMPLETELY kill the game, and as i have said before the only tech soccer/football needs is something in the ball to say its crossed the line, ice hockey style.

you don't watch much Rugby, do you?
You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?

 

[Stalker]

again another person not really looking into it.
the video footage wont be used continually. I say the captain of each team has like 3 opportunities to call on the vid ref.. thats all the flow of the game will still remain intact.

Ye but thats exactly when the flow would stop. Now when I see my team in trouble all I have to do is call a time out ! then the flow of the game comes to an end and the opposition loose an opportunity to score.

The players should not be allowed to question the ref, his decision is final always has been - be it right or wrong.

I would not mind if they used the tech after the game to penalize players for taking a dive to get a free kick or penalty that would in the long run improve the flow of the game- but no more than that

 

[Joy-Energiser]

now you are talking rubbish... Rugby stops so much they actually have to stop the clock to keep track of whats going on!!!!... Please explain to me exactly when were they suppose to review that england goal??????? If they do it straight away, they stop the game and that just doesn't fly because it breaks the flow of the game.... If they wait for the ball to go dead, and a goal is scored between the time of incident and review that goal has to be disallowed and the ball is brought back to the half way line. Both these cases COMPLETELY kill the game, and as i have said before the only tech soccer/football needs is something in the ball to say its crossed the line, ice hockey style.

Your moaning about the flow of the game ? are you retarded ?
So tell me this, a goal or penalty incorrectly awarded giving the other team a unfair goal and a huge advantage mentally is acceptable, but breaking the flow of a game to analyze game-breaking decision which could alter the fate of a team forever for 30 seconds is unaccceptable ? Good god, what is wrong with soccer fans.


I am loving the World cup right now, soccer fever is rife.
But....
I just don't understand how people can love this game, and these players which try to deceive the ref at every turn, diving for free kicks, especially in the penalty box.
It is utterly disgusting, and this is suppose to be the beautiful game ? What a fuking joke

WHat kind of coward falls onto the ground claiming to be injured and then gets right back up once the free kick is awarded.
Soccer fans should be ashamed, is this sportmanlike behaviour ? I think not.

 

[phiber]

Sorry but a sensor in the ball just will not work, because in soccer the entire ball has to cross the line, not just part of it. So one would need sensors over the entire ball. However a simple solution such as a laser system that monitors when the laser is broken would work. You would need about 30 lasers that feed back to a data monitoring system, but even in this scenario I believe that a TV ref is still necessary to make the final call as a player could block the sensors if he is inside the goal.

The idea would be to cover the entire circumference of the ball with sensors and detect if the whole ball has crossed the line. Its not going to be easy or cheap, but it is possible.

 

[phiber]

Your moaning about the flow of the game ? are you retarded ?
So tell me this, a goal or penalty incorrectly awarded giving the other team a unfair goal and a huge advantage mentally is acceptable, but breaking the flow of a game to analyze game-breaking decision which could alter the fate of a team forever for 30 seconds is unaccceptable ? Good god, what is wrong with soccer fans.


I am loving the World cup right now, soccer fever is rife.
But....
I just don't understand how people can love this game, and these players which try to deceive the ref at every turn, diving for free kicks, especially in the penalty box.
It is utterly disgusting, and this is suppose to be the beautiful game ? What a fuking joke

WHat kind of coward falls onto the ground claiming to be injured and then gets right back up once the free kick is awarded.
Soccer fans should be ashamed, is this sportmanlike behaviour ? I think not.

Stopping a game for 30 seconds to review what the ref is doing completely unacceptable. The game must flow... TMO and 3rd umpire in cricket have slowed the games down considerably. Cricket is ok because the point of review is between deliveries and the ball goes dead. Not one person who says the game should be reviewed can say when to perform the review without causing a disadvantage of some sort. I rather have a few bad decision happen once in a while (its not every game that a bad decision happens), than have the game stop consistently. Call me a retarded soccer fan all you like, but when this world cup is over all the fools crying for technology wont be watching the game and the usuals will be stuck with a very different (and by different i also imply worse) game that they used to enjoy.

The ref has full right to show a player a yellow card for simulation, so if he feels he is being deceived he should book him and the do enforce this at Club level.

Yea, its not sportsman like but then neither is not walking when you know you edged it. Or still appealing when you know its hit the ground.... Only now have we seen players start getting honest with the boundary rope, because they rather not waste the time with the review.

Cricket definitely needs 3rd umpire for run outs and boundaries, but even for LBW's i think they are taking it way too far... Rugby has quite a few close calls where you cant see if the dude has put the ball over line becuase theres 20 people ontop of him, but soccer barely has the need for tech, and tech that stops the games for reviews will be way worse for the game than not having it.

 

[phiber]

you don't watch much Rugby, do you?
You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?

Watch enough to have seen tmo take 2 mins to make a decision... soccer does not break down enough for 30 seconds of review time, yet alone 2 mins... The goal line decision going wrong, only really happens once in a season... there really is no need for this tech in soccer...

 

[phiber]

Ye but thats exactly when the flow would stop. Now when I see my team in trouble all I have to do is call a time out ! then the flow of the game comes to an end and the opposition loose an opportunity to score.

The players should not be allowed to question the ref, his decision is final always has been - be it right or wrong.

I would not mind if they used the tech after the game to penalize players for taking a dive to get a free kick or penalty that would in the long run improve the flow of the game- but no more than that

Completely agree, all you need is for a team to be piling on the pressure and the opposing captain to use one of his reviews for something silly and he can kill the momentum of the opposition. Citings after the game is something UEFA have been looking into for penalty, and have been handing out bans on already, they must start to get a bit more vigilant on it though.

The players should not be allowed to question the ref, his decision is final always has been - be it right or wrong.

If the players dont like it, dont play the game... If the fans dont like it, dont watch the game. Simple!!!

 

[DJ...]

The idea would be to cover the entire circumference of the ball with sensors and detect if the whole ball has crossed the line. Its not going to be easy or cheap, but it is possible.

But still far more expensive than a few lasers hooked up to a laptop...

 

[hawker]

But still far more expensive than a few lasers hooked up to a laptop...

Exactly, if at any time the laser is blocked, and then becomes unblocked we can assume that the ball crossed the line in it's entirety.

 

[DJ...]

Exactly, if at any time the laser is blocked, and then becomes unblocked we can assume that the ball crossed the line in it's entirety.

As I posted previously though, we'd need a tv ref in conjunction with this, because a player could block the laser too...

 

[Sting]

Stopping a game for 30 seconds to review what the ref is doing completely unacceptable. The game must flow... TMO and 3rd umpire in cricket have slowed the games down considerably. Cricket is ok because the point of review is between deliveries and the ball goes dead. Not one person who says the game should be reviewed can say when to perform the review without causing a disadvantage of some sort. I rather have a few bad decision happen once in a while (its not every game that a bad decision happens), than have the game stop consistently. Call me a retarded soccer fan all you like, but when this world cup is over all the fools crying for technology wont be watching the game and the usuals will be stuck with a very different (and by different i also imply worse) game that they used to enjoy.

The ref has full right to show a player a yellow card for simulation, so if he feels he is being deceived he should book him and the do enforce this at Club level.

Yea, its not sportsman like but then neither is not walking when you know you edged it. Or still appealing when you know its hit the ground.... Only now have we seen players start getting honest with the boundary rope, because they rather not waste the time with the review.

Cricket definitely needs 3rd umpire for run outs and boundaries, but even for LBW's i think they are taking it way too far... Rugby has quite a few close calls where you cant see if the dude has put the ball over line becuase theres 20 people ontop of him, but soccer barely has the need for tech, and tech that stops the games for reviews will be way worse for the game than not having it.

Agree with you.

 

[hawker]

As I posted previously though, we'd need a tv ref in conjunction with this, because a player could block the laser too...

True, just stating that having a laser is a viable solution.

Stopping the game for 30seconds to check whether a goal is allowable or not is perfectly acceptable I feel. All this talk about having the game flow can take a back seat as far as I am concerned if it means that the game is played in a more fair manner.

 

[Sting]

True, just stating that having a laser is a viable solution.

Stopping the game for 30seconds to check whether a goal is allowable or not is perfectly acceptable I feel. All this talk about having the game flow can take a back seat as far as I am concerned if it means that the game is played in a more fair manner.

The use of 2 extra asst refs to help with goal line and goal mouth incidents was trialled by UEFA last season.

I would agree with that, but not with TV replays.

 

[DJ...]

True, just stating that having a laser is a viable solution.

Stopping the game for 30seconds to check whether a goal is allowable or not is perfectly acceptable I feel. All this talk about having the game flow can take a back seat as far as I am concerned if it means that the game is played in a more fair manner.

Refer to my original post in this thread. No need for the game to be stopped or the flow to be interrupted at all - just wait until play stops for a free kick, throw in, corner, goal kick or goal and then refer it. I think I detailed a fairly easy workaround to this technology issue without throwing an excessive amount of money to the problem. I'm interested to know if anyone can find holes in it...

 

[phiber]

Refer to my original post in this thread. No need for the game to be stopped or the flow to be interrupted at all - just wait until play stops for a free kick, throw in, corner, goal kick or goal and then refer it. I think I detailed a fairly easy workaround to this technology issue without throwing an excessive amount of money to the problem. I'm interested to know if anyone can find holes in it...

big hole.... you cant play till the ball goes dead, because if it was a legit goal and the opposition go down the other end and score is their goal then disallowed ???? Would create WAY MORE controversy!!!

 

[DJ...]

big hole.... you cant play till the ball goes dead, because if it was a legit goal and the opposition go down the other end and score is their goal then disallowed ???? Would create WAY MORE controversy!!!

Of course the subsequent goal is disallowed...