In the aftermath of Thierry Henry's infamous handball, soccer fans across the globe have come to expect a change in FIFA's officiating, whether it be the use of video technology or additional referees.
It appears neither will be implemented at the World Cup.
FIFA's executive committee has decided not to introduce any referee changes at the 2010 World Cup, stating that the tournament is too soon. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said there are plans to further discuss the additional referee concept, which is currently being used in the Europa League, and the use of technology at a later date.
What do you think about FIFA's decision? Is the executive committee making a mistake? Should South Africa 2010 have additional referees and video replay?
Share your thoughts below.
So lets say this rule had already been implemented and this endline referee was on the opposite side of the goal and could not clearly see? Do we then stomp our feet and wave our fists at fifa and say, ” What assclowns! We need two referees on each endline so they can objectively call the game.” Then what do we just keep adding referees? like it or not the referee is part of the game, and truthfully the more referees there are the less efficiently the game will be called.
They were NEVER going to change the rules – the current rules help teams from nations with big, powerful domestic leagues. Until that at least occasionally isn’t the case, the rules will NOT change.
People: Much of the disagreement here and in general stems from conflating the matter of handballs-and-dives with the matter of questionable goals.
FIFA is probably correct regarding the time it takes to incorporate additional refs to call contested handballs, penalties, and dives.
That said, even fat-ass Emerald_City_Jason could stand around for 90+ minutes fantasizing about taking a corner kick in the World Cup and gather his damn self in time to tell the head honcho whether the ball crossed the line if no one else got a good gander.
Or they could just insert cameras in the frame and be sure. How hard is that? If anyone is taking, I’m putting serious money on this biting FIFA in the butt next summer.
Boneheaded. I look forward to a World Cup full of terrible calls that could have been gotten right.
Altering the qualification rules was a uefa decision, not a FIFA one. FIFA says ‘you have X spots, tell us who you’re sending’ and it’s up to the confederations from there. That’s why the France-Ireland debacle isn’t really FIFA’s problem, it’s UEFA’s, it was their tournament.
This would have been a plausible answer if in 2006 they hadn’t change their interpretation of yellow/red card fouls that caused such chaos.
I can’t imagine how two refs behind the goals can be a such a problem, specially when the idea is already on trial in a major competition.
Not enough time for ref teams to gel together and prepare? As if prior World Cups have been ref’d well? Is the Europa League in shambles this fall because of the goal line refs?
Sports as tradition-bound as cricket and tennis have taken big steps to improve calls. Almost every sport I can think of has made changes to improve calls. Save Football.
And for those traditionalists, shall we go back to no-subs, back-passes to the keeper, and coin flips to settle draws?
For those who think more time is needed, nothing in football is more important than the World Cup. Every effort should be made to ensure that the games are the best they can be. That effort is NOT being made.
I think what so many people take issue with here is that we seem to see a very different FIFA when something is in their immediate best interest (e.g. altering the European group playoff system to favor struggling superpowers and such). In such cases, their overcautious approach tends to take a backseat to “other factors” and things get done very quickly.
As for team-building amongst referees, I have doubts about whether groups of referees take longer to gel than teams of players, and there’s still plenty of time for new players to work themselves into their respective squads before the World Cup. If FIFA really wanted something done, I think it would get done.
unbelievable!
crap.
I agree I do not think it would hurt and FIFA could do something with out any of us knowing, just like the headsets have been added. However, they are more likely to want to put something like this in the rules of the game instead of just adding it and that i think would require changing the rules by which the referees are added.
Some of the posts are just moronic. I guess we could just pick up a couple of the posters to this blog and drop them behind each one of the goals, because it is SOOOO easy! Problem solved.
Like @nutmegger above pointed out, it takes time for referee teams to develop a working dynamic and many of them have been together since the qualifying rounds started not long after WC2006 ended. If we are to believe that we are getting the best refs in the world to call the finals, and we still find fault with them, can you imagine if we add two new lesser qualified linesmen for each game?
Does anyone know what is the state of the regulations for the additional refs being tested right now? Is it final or still a work in progress? We might be doing more harm than good if we rush the implementation for next year’s tournament.
I personally would like to eliminate the costly errors that happen now, and I hope FIFA comes to a solution promptly, but as long as there are refs calling games there are going to be human errors. To quote someone:
“But I suppose the only way to ever completely rid the game of such errors is to not play the games at all. And I think that’s something that none of us would like to contemplate.”
Cheers
Disgraceful. Bloody disgraceful. I wonder what it’s going to take to drag FIFA kicking and screaming into the 21st century, because apparently, Thierry Henry playing basketball in the build-up to a decisive goal in a decisive playoff isn’t going to do it.
At the very minimum, it would not hurt to have two people behind the goals whom the referee can consult with during stoppages of play – like the current fourth official. That would be an improvement over having no one at all.
It may not be the best improvement — maybe the best improvement would be a system with flags or microphones or whatever — but it would be an improvement and I still fail to see why that cannot be implemented for the finals.
Fine, then add the two referees behind the goals and let the center referee keep his old position for the meantime. It may not be “optimal” but it still better to have two extra refs behind the goals than not have them.
A lot of training is required.
Referees work in teams. Adding two goal line referees changes the dynamic of the team. The presence of those two officials means that optimal positioning for the Center referee changes dramatically.
There is simply not enough time between the end of the Europa League trial of the goal-line referee system and the World Cup to do it. They have to write up the new procedures for each role on the referee team, form the new teams, and then give them enough games at the World Cup level of play.
Sticking with referee teams who have been training together and working together for years in preparation for this event is much more likely at this point to yield a good result.
I am sure I will get some heat about this. It is not as easy as one would think. How the Europa league is doing it I am not sure but FIFA’a Rules of the game would have to be amended and then ratified.
As the center Referee is in charge of making final decisions are you giving the guys behind the goal a flag to signal with a or a microphone to speak to the referee? Then does he have to stop the game to figure out what that official is calling?
There is a lot to implement and change to make that happen. Since only the European referees would have worked with the system how many mistakes will be made by other officials?
Even when the NFL went to instant replay they had months to prepare and then preseason to work through it and it is still not perfect after years of use. Just some thoughts but not as easy as some of you make it out to be.
It’s not like they haven’t changed 1) the way seeds are allocated 2) the way UEFA playoffs are decided during the tournament.
Would it be unfair to anyone to add another referee? Has anyone relied on their ability to cheat in Finals and been practicising handballs on set pieces for months?
This is ridiculous. How can we hold FIFA accountable? If they can’t figure out how to put a person behind a goal in seven months they have no right to be regulating the world’s most popular sport. Bring out the anti-trust lawyers and break this cartel up. What idiots.
FIFA’s decision sucks.
As you note, there’s a system being tried out in the Europa League. They could certainly use that model. As for finding additional referees…how hard can it be to find guys to stand beyond the end lines and signal fouls? Do they need significant additional training? Not really — it’s not like being an assistant referee, which does require a certain degree of distinct training and experience to start doing correctly. The end line assistants act essentially as referees, except they have a different perspective. There will be a lot of referees on break during the World Cup. Surely, FIFA can find enough that are capable of doing this job.
classy. not only are we going to continue ignoring a viable and easy solution to a glaring problem, but we’d like to introduce to you Mr. Henry our official FIFA scapegoat.
Sepp Blatter is an assclown.
I hate Sepp Blatter
I think people need to remember that next summer isn’t the start of the tourney… it is only the finals. The actual WC started when qualifiers began. So changing the officiating 3/4 of the way thru the full tourney would actually set a precedent were more rules could be changed mid-tournament.
That all being said…I sure hope to see the officiating changes happen immediately post WC Finals!
BOO. No testicles in those board rooms.
Does Sepp Blatter get anything right, ever?
Banning Henry would be a pathetic consolation to the Irish. Henry did nothing that any other player wouldn’t have done (Keane especially)–that doesn’t mean he’s absolved, but this would be like putting a bandaid on a scratch sustained due to an epileptic fit… you might want to get some treatment for the epilepsy, Sepp.
If you don’t want video replay, you need goal line refs. Those are the two options. Pick one, Sepp.
They still have egg on their face from ’02 when the South Koreans knocked out Spain and Italy due to bogus calls…
FIFA is just like the rest of Europe – corrupt and incompetent.
Still don’t understand why they can’t just put another linesman behind the goal. Think of all the situations where this can be effective..dives,handballs,corner kicks, goals, etc…
good news for the Italian and Portugese national diving teams. embarassing for the rest of us.
It’s part of the game. You win some, you loose some. Last thing I want to see is referees huddling over a monitor watching instant replays. Let the game carry on.
In due course I can see an extra official, but it will introduce a lot of new controversies and will require several years to iron out. I agree that this World Cup is too soon.
Terrible.
FIFA makes the BCS look like the epitome of fairness and objectivity.
Too soon? Puh-leaze! How much training is needed to stand behind the goal and make endline/goal/handball calls? I guess adding extra refs now would be too close to admitting culpability for the Henry gaffe.
7 months isn’t enough time to train and introduce 1 or 2 guys that do absolutely nothing but stand on the end line?
Big mistake. This is the world’s most popular sporting event. Do what it takes to get it right. Put a ref behind each goal. How hard can it be to implement that?
too soon… bullocks