Sports (Football) : Goal Line Technology

Goal line technology or sometimes referred to as a Goal Decision System has really changed the game recently. Before this, either it is goal or not, simply decided by the referee - and that what interesting in football - the scene created by the fans when they saw the ball 'entered' the goal, but then the referee does not blow his whistle (to notify the goal decision) rather than to continue with the game.

The climax of it all came during the important match during the 2010 World Cup as well as 2012 Euro. "Following several refereeing errors at the 2010 FIFA World Cup – including the disallowed goal in Germany's 4–1 victory overEngland, when Frank Lampard hit a shot from outside of the penalty box that bounced off the crossbar and over the line; the ball came back out and the goal was disallowed because the assistant referee did not call for a goal" source. Thus, FIFA re-open the discussion about using the goal line technology system to the World Cup or any other big event.

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The goal line technology were officially used in the official tournament in 2012 FIFA Club World Cup (Japan). And then it was official used in the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil. The technology used in the system in order to get the 'nod' from FIFA is GoalRef and Hawk-Eye. Both technology need to past 2 test phase conducted by FIFA and IFAB.

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In term the criticism received are the lost in human touch and cost involved in adopting the technology. Lost in human touch can be relate to the excitement of the games itself, whereby previously the supporter get excited over the referee decision either its on their side or against. Its the scene created when the referee make a wrong decision (from the supporter's point of view) that keep the game interesting, and keep our adrenaline rush all the time. And now, we wont have that anymore, people wont be debating over if its goal or not. Because the decision is accurate and final, unlike the referee decision which sometimes can be different from what we "thought' we saw.

Then, the cost involved in adopting the technology is consider is high, The costs per club would have ranged from €250.000 for a chip inside the ball up to €500.000 for Hawk-Eye or GoalControl. And when the league agreed to use them, all of the participating club must bare the fees, with no exceptional. Thus, the club with lower budget would suffer from this implementation.