Goal-line technology to undergo trial in England friendly

Did the ball cross the line, or did it not? What happens when the referee in a football match makes the wrong call, robbing a team of a goal, or awarding a ghost goal instead? That is part of why football is so exciting, as the error in judgment when humans are involved add more tension to the game. Of course, other sports like tennis have already adopted the Hawk Eye system, where line shots can be called by a player up to a certain number of times as the speed of the ball might move too fast at times for the linesman to make the right call. Glad to know that the footballing world will finally see goal-line technology undergo a trial at Wembley in England as the Three Lions host Belgium in a friendly this coming June 2nd as a warm-up to the Euros.

Known as Hawk Eye, this camera-based system will undergo testing by independent testers in England’s final game before the Euro 2012 tournament kicks off this summer. Match officials will be unable to gain access to data, while the trial can be deemed as ‘impotent’ in a sense since it has no impact on any contentious goal-line decisions yet.

I would like to see the implementation of Hawk Eye in future games though, as fair should be fair, even though it might take away a slight edge in terms of debating over the “What ifs” many years down the road due to a wrong call.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: football