Originally posted this - mistakenly - as a new thread. Am reposting here, courtesy of a nudge from Annoyed Grunt, who assures me this isn't actually a thread about sex and the Carry On team...
Last night - in what turned out to be utterly forlorn anticipation of hearing commentary on Arsenal's thumping victory over the Piemen - I tuned in to 5Live and was "treated" to yet another panic-fuelled, reactionary rant on the evils of video technology from Mottie and the crew.
'It'll slow the game down' - no, it won't.
'It'll undermine the authority of the referee.' - what authority?
'It'll creep from goal line cameras into all other aspects of the game.' - will it? Good!
'Bad decisions are part of the fun of football.' - try selling that to any Bolton fan after Gerry Taggart v Everton in Reebok Year One.
At present, referees are subject to trial by video replay, every match. On top of that, their assistant's are reluctant to 'give the forward the benefit of the doubt' on offside calls (unless the forward plays for Manchester United, Chelsea etc.)
I say use it. Use it for goal line decisions, for penalty decisions, for dives and for offside decisions where a goal results, for whatever. Result: a better game all round and more chance of justice for us v Scum and the like.
Oh, and if you really really are worried about slowing the game down, let's follow cricket's lead and limit each manager to, say, three referrals per game.
there is that...
