Television match officials and football

[TightEnd]

TMOs and Instant replays are now part of many sports

- the NFL

- Rugby Union and League

- Cricket

Being examples

some rely on a challenge system where the coach/manager/captain gets for example a challenge per half. others like the rugby codes the ref refers an incident to the main in the truck

Football has none of this (goal-line technology is the only innovation in use, and works well).

isn't it time for football to get with it, and help referees?


as an aside, shouldn't we mike refs up, hear what they are saying to players (and players back to them) as we see in rugby and cricket and helps the viewer experience so much? 

The oft mooted downside is that it slows the game

The upsides in getting more decisions correct are considerable though

   

[Skippy]

The trouble with football is that the rule book isn't good enough. In the NFL they have a rule for every conceivable situation, so 99% of the time if you know the facts, you know what the ruling is. It's quite normal in football to have a pundit's panel say things like "I thought that was a foul", "it wasn't a foul for me", "there was no intent", going in with two feet, off the ground,. all that stuff isn't written down anywhere.

Unless they can clean up the rules, I think TV officials are a non starter.

[rinswun]

Talk of the rule in rugby where only the captain is allowed to converse with the ref being brought in to football. Would be a hugely positive change in my opinion.

[Longines]

It's coming, just at FIFA's usual glacial pace:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38318258


Japan's Kashima Antlers became the first side to benefit from a video replay in a Fifa competition as they scored a penalty in their 3-0 Club World Cup semi-final win.

Referee Viktor Kassai stopped the game after being alerted to an incident by his assistant, then gave a penalty after viewing footage on a monitor.

[arbboy]

Flag in football once a half from the coachces NFL style would be so easy to use on major disputes/decisions.  Most key decisions involve play being stopped anyway naturally.  Man U's goal yday being off side being a key example.  We have to get these things right even if the game is paused.  Football gets paused all the time for a minute or so with injuries/handbags fights etc so i don't get the moaning about it slowing the game down.

[AndrewT]

as an aside, shouldn't we mike refs up, hear what they are saying to players (and players back to them) as we see in rugby and cricket and helps the viewer experience so much?   

I remember a ref being miked up for a game about 15 years ago - the things that were said to him were not really suitable for broadcast at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon

Found it on Youtube

[POWWWWWWWW]

Flag in football once a half from the coachces NFL style would be so easy to use on major disputes/decisions.  Most key decisions involve play being stopped anyway naturally.  Man U's goal yday being off side being a key example.  We have to get these things right even if the game is paused.  Football gets paused all the time for a minute or so with injuries/handbags fights etc so i don't get the moaning about it slowing the game down.

Wouldn't disrupt the game in anyway to have every goal reviewed while the players are fannying around dabbing and knee sliding. A lot of the decisions, seen in real time, are almost impossible to call anway.

[PokerBroker]

Of course it's time for this and has been for about 10 years, football is the biggest game in the world and it's stuck in the dark days.

Also it's about time the panelists/pundits brushed up in their knowledge some of them are so lazy and biased it's embarassing.

[bobby1]

At what level do you stop offering video replays/ challenges etc in football tho?

NFL and college ball are several levels above leagues lower in the pyramid where football in most countries has a more gradual pyramid. Where do you draw the line in England alone?

The one thing that could be introduced is retrospective refereeing, which would instantly make the games less pathetic and cut down on all the play acting and diving/other cheating. Those guilty would get retrospective cards for the cheating, someone carded could get them rescinded too. Release a report with each minute and incident documented and then hand out punishments. Officials should get the same treatment too, Mike Dean gets a 2 match ban for poor Reffing in last nights game for example, the Lino that missed the offside too.

The basic rules of the game seem to have changed too, when did 'contact' instantly become a free kick for example?

You don't give fouls for touching someone in other sports, why is touching someone and them cheating by just falling over suddenly accepted as a foul in football? How would video replays change decisions unless the rules are clear?

I'd make instant replay, time outs and challenges most important alongside retrospective Reffing. punishment for cheating would improve the game no end.

Exactly why would making the games longer by extending games to make sure decisions/incidents are called correctly be seen as a bad thing anyway?

[PokerBroker]

In England I think EPL/Championship is a must. 

[bobby1]

In England I think EPL/Championship is a must. 

I guess the argument there tho bud is the differences between Championship and League 1 is very small and League 1 to League 2 even smaller. And it gets smaller still as you go down. If you went even lower down the pyramids it gets almost negligible. For example Scots Div 2 and Highland league. Even if we extended it to the 'Pro' leagues in England and Scotland it still comes down to why would Edinburgh City games now have all the technological advances in their games but Buckie Thistle don't?

I think it needs to be a fundimental change to the make up of football not just for the TV leagues

[arbboy]

In England I think EPL/Championship is a must.  

I guess the argument there tho bud is the differences between Championship and League 1 is very small and League 1 to League 2 even smaller. And it gets smaller still as you go down. If you went even lower down the pyramids it gets almost negligible. For example Scots Div 2 and Highland league. Even if we extended it to the 'Pro' leagues in England and Scotland it still comes down to why would Edinburgh City games now have all the technological advances in their games but Buckie Thistle don't?

I think it needs to be a fundimental change to the make up of football not just for the TV leagues

The difference between the championship and league 1 is massive in financial and wages terms.    Seems a very logical cut off point for me between these two leagues.

[bobby1]

Flag in football once a half from the coachces NFL style would be so easy to use on major disputes/decisions. Most key decisions involve play being stopped anyway naturally.  Man U's goal yday being off side being a key example.  We have to get these things right even if the game is paused.  Football gets paused all the time for a minute or so with injuries/handbags fights etc so i don't get the moaning about it slowing the game down.

Wouldn't disrupt the game in anyway to have every goal reviewed while the players are fannying around dabbing and knee sliding. A lot of the decisions, seen in real time, are almost impossible to call anway.

Very much this for me, I saw two examples on MOTD last night where goals were given by the goal line technology where the ref instantly pointed to his watch to indicate he had been told the ball was over the line by the technology. I mean seriously, if you invented a sport now where you said it is sometimes impossible to tell if a score has been made in a game that averages 2 1/2 scores a game you would get laughed at. Yet it's taken years for just that piece of technology to be introduced.

They tried video replay for refs for goals, fouls, red and yellow cards in an MLS reserve game this season. The main incident that went to review was a free kick on the edge of the box that was originally called correctly by the ref at real time. the video was called to check it was outside the area and if it was worthy of a yellow or red card. Video confirmation made it a free kick and a red card.

There were other incidents in the game that went to video confirmation yet the total added time was just 4 minutes which must show how well it worked.

I can't copy n paste the link I found but it's a interesting read.

[bobby1]

In England I think EPL/Championship is a must.  

I guess the argument there tho bud is the differences between Championship and League 1 is very small and League 1 to League 2 even smaller. And it gets smaller still as you go down. If you went even lower down the pyramids it gets almost negligible. For example Scots Div 2 and Highland league. Even if we extended it to the 'Pro' leagues in England and Scotland it still comes down to why would Edinburgh City games now have all the technological advances in their games but Buckie Thistle don't?

I think it needs to be a fundimental change to the make up of football not just for the TV leagues

The difference between the championship and league 1 is massive in financial and wages terms.    Seems a very logical cut off point for me between these two leagues.

That might be the best call Arb but in Scotland the drop between Prem league and Chsmpionship has a bigger drop off, if we say top two leagues in each country get the technology we would be left with a situation where Ayr Utd games get the technology but Sheff Utd games don't. Its hard to say where that line is drawn, all footy league and high end non league games have cameras there now. Why not just make it a fundamental change to the game and not just where the money is?

[arbboy]

In England I think EPL/Championship is a must.  

I guess the argument there tho bud is the differences between Championship and League 1 is very small and League 1 to League 2 even smaller. And it gets smaller still as you go down. If you went even lower down the pyramids it gets almost negligible. For example Scots Div 2 and Highland league. Even if we extended it to the 'Pro' leagues in England and Scotland it still comes down to why would Edinburgh City games now have all the technological advances in their games but Buckie Thistle don't?

I think it needs to be a fundimental change to the make up of football not just for the TV leagues

The difference between the championship and league 1 is massive in financial and wages terms.    Seems a very logical cut off point for me between these two leagues.

That might be the best call Arb but in Scotland the drop between Prem league and Chsmpionship has a bigger drop off, if we say top two leagues in each country get the technology we would be left with a situation where Ayr Utd games get the technology but Sheff Utd games don't. Its hard to say where that line is drawn, all footy league and high end non league games have cameras there now. Why not just make it a fundamental change to the game and not just where the money is?

Think the key point is to get it in the very top leagues to start with before we worry about Ayr united and their 300 supporters being pissed off when Forfar score a dodgy goal against them!