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“More refs? Are you havin’ a laugh Mr Platini?”

27 Aug 2010

Two weeks into the new Premier League season and already the ghost of England’s World Cup, the ability (or not) of officials to judge whether or not the ball has crossed the line, has come back to haunt the top flight of English football.

With Tottenham Hotspur arguably only having come away from what the football odds had down as  a tricky tie with Stoke with three points due to a refereeing error, how much longer can the nation’s favourite sport continue to allow itself to be embarrassed by awful refereeing decisions that could be easily avoided?

With the 20 year anniversary of the introduction of the third umpire in cricket fast approaching, the near universal use of Hawk Eye in tennis events, and the USA’s favourite sports all using video replays where necessary, why is football still stuck in the stone age?

Surely UEFA head Mr Platini, a man who undoubtedly wants the best for football and its fans, must be aware of the chronic problem that leagues across Europe are facing in recruiting officials, which begs the question as to why on earth he believes that the answer to getting key decisions right should depend entirely upon increasingly inexperienced officials, who are still going to be prone to human error.

With the Premier League odds constantly proclaiming the EPL as the best in the world, surely it can lead the way and introduce the video technology that is already ready to be implemented. Whilst this argument would have been a lonely one even a few years ago, today the call for video technology is supported by the majority of fans and managers and even ex-officials such as Dermot Gallagher, suggesting that now is the time to bring our sport up to date with technology.