Sports Decisions and Tech Aversion

It was Wembley, 1966 all over again. This time, though, the decision went in favour of the Germans. Goal scored but (this time) not given by the referee/linesman. Did that decision change the course of the match? That, of course, is debatable. Some would say that because the goal was not given, England threw everyone into attack; and when the Germans counter-attacked, there was nobody at the back to defend. Others would say Germany was the better team and would have won in any case.

But let’s leave aside the exact impact of that decision on this particular match. The Americans use technology to make decisions in (American) football and basketball. Apparently, their fans have enough to argue and discuss in terms of who should have played and what strategy should have been adopted! Sports like cricket and tennis use Hawk-Eye to trace the ball’s trajectory to predict where the ball would have gone or landed. Is that perfect? Obviously not; but at least, it is consistent to both teams. But even cricket and tennis place a limit on how many decisions can be challenged.

Why don’t they use technology in football? Like something as ancient as action replays? Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, was cynical but bang on target when he said:

“Fans love to debate any given incident in a game. It is part of the human nature of our sport.”

For Blatter & Co, it’s better to be wrong and generate controversy. Any coverage is better than no coverage!

As a fan, how is it good to come away with the bitter feeling that the referee/umpire was the reason your side lost? Wait a minute…did we just stumble onto something? Do fans, deep down, prefer to attribute their team’s loss to the malice or incompetence of the referee rather than accepting that their side was outplayed? Is that the real reason why most sports continue to ignore technology, to cater to what Blatter called the “human nature of our sport”?

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