After Further Review, Instant Replay is not the Answer

By: Bob | October 23rd, 2006

Add Arsenal coach Arsenal Wenger to the list of people in favor of adding video technology to football. A-Dub, as our man Trent likes to call him, would like to see a system where the referees could refer to a fourth official, who would have access to video replays, in the event of a questionable call.

“There is not just a place for it (video technology), there is a need for it,” Wenger told BBC Radio Five Live. “If you love football you want justice to be respected. It becomes suspicious when people see things that don’t happen.

“You can question the honesty of people and we do not want that in our game. When referees see things that don’t exist it is hard to accept. With a video you can you can check that it is a regular goal. Why refuse when the help is there? It becomes a weakness from referees if they don’t accept it.”

Wenger’s logic makes sense and the use of instant replay always sounds appealing after you watch the referees blow a call that costs your team a goal or a game, but I really hope that we don’t start to see instant replay in the Premiership or anywhere else in football.

I understand the desire to eliminate human mistakes from the game and I’m all in favor of technology, but I have a hard time seeing how it could be adopted without ruining the flow of the game.

I imagine it could be used in limited ways like to judge questionable plays where the action has already stopped such as a disputed goal or no goal or whether a penalty kick should be awarded for action in the box. Assuming the decision from the television official could be made without too long a delay – something that hasn’t always proven to be the case in sports like American football – the flow of the game would be minimally interrupted.

At the same time, if you were to correct every blown call or review any number of the offside calls that are questionable in any given match, football would devolve into a stand and wait type of game.

Even with video in place, the proper call will not always be called and disputes will still arise. Camera angles are not always conclusive and ultimately judgment would still be in the hands of human beings, who are always going to make errors. I also wonder if this could even be applicable for some of the lower divisions and leagues around the world where not all games are televised and not every play could be adequately reviewed. These are all issues that could conceivably be worked out by FIFA and the football federations, but the solutions won’t come cheap.

In the end, I happen to think football is fine the way it is. Referees have blown calls since the beginning of time and they will continue to blow calls long after you and I have left this world. Mistakes are part of the game. Disputes are the nature of the beast. Why mess with something when things really aren’t broken.

Your thoughts? Are you in favor or opposed to video replays?