Updated: 24/11/2011 12:18 | By ESPNsoccernet staff, www.espn.co.uk

FA step closer to introducing goal-line tech

Heurelho Gomes tries in vain to stop the ball crossing the line, Chelsea v Tottenham, Premier League, Stamford Bridge, April 30, 2011

PA Photos

Goal-line technology has long been called for in many quarters

The Football Association could introduce goal-line technology for the start of the 2012-13 season if tests progress well - though time will be tight for the system to be implemented.

A number of possible solutions are currently being considered after FIFA made a U-turn and gave the green light. But the FA will only bring goal-line technology into the English game if they are satisfied it is reliable.

One of the systems on trial, 'Goalminder', is due to be analysed in front of FIFA's testers at League One club Rochdale's Spotland home ground on Wednesday night.

Nine systems are being tested by a FIFA-employed authority with a final decision on which one might be used due to be made by the game's law-makers in July.

FA general secretary Alex Horne believes that ongoing tests could be completed, and given FIFA approval, in time for the start of next season.

"It's possible we could see [goal-line technology] in the Premier League as early as 2012-13,'' he told the BBC. "It's easy to make mistakes and we've all seen examples where the referee and assistant referee can't see if a ball has crossed the line or not. We need to support them in decision-making.

"Whether there is enough time for the technology to be bought, paid for and put into any league or competition for next season, I'm not sure," he conceded. "It would be really tight - but it might be possible for next season.''

However, it is more likely that the technology will first be used in the 2013-14 campaign.

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9Comments

Best

24/11/2011 14:56

Cardiff were robbed by Coventry at the weekend. The sooner this comes in the better!

Previous replies

Nik K (Nikita K _ K Not For Khrushchev_ 1989)

24/11/2011 19:56

Chris, I see where you're coming from, but what if that mistake leads to a team getting relegated? Now for a team to be in that precarious position in the first place, you'd have to place the blame on the players, but still, imagine your club going down to a goal which shouldn't have stood or a goal which should have stood on the last day of the league? Relegation has dire repercussions for a club beyond the pitch (people working at the club behind the scenes lose their jobs due to financial constraints) and like I said, you'd have to place blame on the players for allowing themselves to be in such an ominous in the first place, but the final nail in the coffin shouldn't be dictated by the incompetence of officials - it should be dictated by the events, efforts and merits from the players. As you can tell, I'm a big goal-line technology advocate.

Previous replies

Someone

24/11/2011 16:13

As long as they don't use that hawk-eye crap that just makes a guess and has been proven to have a greater margin of error than they let on. Its been responsible for some ridiculous decisions in cricket and tennis, its a virtual guess little better than what we have now. High speed camera's are readily available why simulate when you can recreate, even Rodger Fedderer hated hawk-eye we have better solutions than a smart guessing machine that's prone to erroneous errors under many different conditions!

Previous replies

Alex Lowrie

25/11/2011 13:07

Just re-watched the Frank Lampard disallowed goal against the Germans. We have to have this in the top top top forms of the game theres so much riding on a big decision like that. We may have won the world cup....Lol only joshing.

Previous replies

anthony bradshaw

24/11/2011 23:52

Nikita - very good observation, case in point Bolton v. Everton 1997. Bolton had a goal disallowed even though the replay clearly showed the ball had crossed the line. Eight months later because of that incorrect decision Bolton rather than Everton are relegated ......

Previous replies

Chris X (Pandora Eat Lead)

25/11/2011 11:54

Trying to say Bolton were relegated because of a disallowed goal 6 months earlier is a bit desperate. Teams get relegated over the course of a season, decisions come and go your way over this time. What about fouls leading to goals, or misplaced passes that lead to fouls that lead to goals, one could go on all day and every team has their sob story.

There is something special in the fact that the world cup final is played in the same way and in the same conditions as a sunday league u14's match, just minus the 60,000 fans.