BY JAMES ROSS AND JAKE LEWIS – FAN FUEL BLOGGERS
Welcome to our debate style blog on Fan Fuel, where two of us go head-to-head on a current issue.
This week, James Ross and Jake Lewis debate whether soccer should use instant replay. Read on and give us your answer in the comments section!
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YES TO INSTANT REPLAY IN SOCCER – JAMES ROSS
The debate has been raging furiously for the past few years in the sport of soccer over the pros and cons of using video replay to get decisions correct, with the potential to loose the flow of the game in the process.
I am all for video technology to get things correct in very specific circumstances only. Specifically, I believe using instant replay to validate or overturn red card decisions and goals to be the key issues that technology can be used to make the beautiful game a better one.
There are numerous examples of bad goals. The non-goal by Frank Lampard for England vs Germany at the last World Cup. The non-goal by Tottenham Hotspur against Manchester United a few seasons back. And many other instances too numerous to mention. As your average soccer game has two to four goals scored, a single goal (or non-goal) can have a huge effect on the outcome. Similarly, red cards can have a huge effect on outcome. The recent BPL match between Liverpool-Everton derby was marred by a brutal red card decision in the first half by FIFA referee Martin Atkinson that effectively turned the odds in Liverpool’s favour. Everyone, it seemed, knew it wasn’t even a foul except the referee, who was standing (at the most) ten yards away from Jack Rodwell when he cleanly tackled Liverpool’s Luis Suarez.
So, this is my specific idea on using instant replay. Soccer, at the pro level, has a fourth official, who basically controls in and outgoing substitutions, and the behaviour of both benches. He would be the perfect liason between the video judges and the on field referee. I can see the entire process from the start to finish for instant replay taking a maximum of one minute.
The video judges (retired referees perhaps?) merely need to understand when a contentious issue crops up, and then quickly “make the call” from up above, and relay it to the fourth official. I also think a maximum of two calls can be made by either team during a single match, and coaches who use the process to vent agitation through the officials would be sanctioned appropriately. In other words, if Arsene Wenger is mad at whatever ref and decided to use a bogus review late in a game, he’d pay for it somehow after the fact via fine or suspension. And two shots would eliminate rampant misuse. Teams would have to pick their spots carefully, and not waste them on slim opportunites.
I do not, for one minute, think the use of instant replay would result in throw-ins and corner kicks being contested. It’s a hyperbolic reaction to change, and anyone who understands the culture of soccer knows this is a ridiculous means of slowing down the game, because they are relatively insignificant decisions. Goals and red cards are huge aspects, and with the level of “surveillance” (via camera angles) any pro soccer match possesses, getting the big decisions right is fair and just.
As for the delays caused by using instant replay, I perceive these to be minor inscope. There are stoppages for marginal “injuries” every match, amongst other things. Getting things right would add, at most, four minutes to any game. It’s a small price to pay for justice.
NO TO INSTANT REPLAY IN SOCCER – JAKE LEWIS
As calls for the use of technology in coccer grow, I feel compelled to speak out for the overwhelming, and somewhat silent, majority of real fans who would rather stick pins in their eyes than except the sight of a referee leaving the field of play to peer at a TV screen, on the side of the pitch.
So here goes.
Referees make mistakes, they have to make split second decisions, often from a less than ideal angle, and they do it in real time. Sometimes those errors, when revealed, can be shown to have impacted the outcome of a game. Sometimes they don’t matter. Furthermore some players deliberately try to mislead the referee, by faking or diving. Sometimes the referee or his/her assistant doesn’t see the ball cross the line, or sees it cross when it didn’t. Its a tough job, and they do their best, but sometimes they get it wrong.
It may seem obvious that assisting them to make the correct decision is the right thing to do, but like every change made to a sport, you have to look into the future and forecast the consequences of that change. Those consequences are usually unintended, and video replay is rife with such unintended consequences. And this is where my objections lie.
Most who suggest TV replay would be simple, and only used for goals/no goals, sending offs, or other clearly infrequent and important decisions, are unfamiliar with the term “gateway drug”. There is no question in my mind, that once the cameras are set-up and the system defined, that more and more reasons will be given for reviewing evermore decisions. Its natural, like a ball always rolls downhill.
Why is this an issue? Well, first it takes time, which means it alters the game. Second it can be misused, and become an issue of contention on the pitch with referees being pressured into consulting the replay. Even if as suggested you do the NFL thing of having challenges, everyone can see that challenges are used tactically in the NFL fairly often. And then, what is the point of getting some decisions right if you have to ignore others, because you have “run out of challenges.”
Finally, and perhaps most importantly. Go to any pub and watch the fans arguing after the game, even after they see a replay, from ten angles in super slo-mo, whether the ref got it right or wrong. Some decisions will always be marginal, and subjective. Enjoy the argument as part of the game!
So, don’t go there, don’t even crack the door open on it. I want my Friday night games with the Panteros (we won the Cup this year!) to be as badly officiated as the World Cup final, and I’m okay with that!
FAN FUEL POLL:
Who won the instant replay in soccer debate?
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