Football Poets

What was the referee thinking?

Taking Homerism to a new level.

From dailymail.co.uk :

Sir Alex Ferguson last night led renewed calls for the introduction of video technology into football after seeing Manchester United escape with a draw at home to Tottenham.

Ferguson was joined by Spurs boss Martin Jol and Arsenal chief Arsene Wenger after Roy Carroll received an amazing reprieve following his Old Trafford blunder.

The United keeper fumbled a speculative 60-yard lob from Pedro Mendes and the ball clearly landed well over his own goal-line in the closing stages of an entertaining encounter.

However, much to the away fans’ disbelief, referee Mark Clattenburg and his assistant Robert Lewis ruled that play should continue and the game finished 0-0.

Ferguson told MUTV: “I think it hammers home what a lot of people have been asking for and that’s that technology should play a part in the game, particularly in an incident like that because it clearly shows the ball was over the line.”

“What I was against originally was the time factor in video replays but I read an article the other day which suggested that if a referee can’t make up his mind after 30 seconds of watching a video replay then the game should carry on.”

“Thirty seconds is about the same amount of time it takes to organise a free-kick or take a corner or a goal-kick. So you wouldn’t be wasting a lot of time.”

“I think you could start off by using it for goal-line decisions. I think that would be an opening into a new area of football.”

The Scot added on Sky Sports’ Premiership Plus: “I don’t think you can blame the referee or the linesman because even from my position I couldn’t see.”

“It looked as if it was over, but I couldn’t be sure and the linesman was scurrying back to get to a position where he could see but obviously couldn’t do it.”

Tottenham boss Jol was understandably left fuming at being denied a clear-cut match-winner.

“We are not talking about the ball being a couple of centimetres or an inch or two over the line, it was a metre inside the goal.”

Also today, from BBC Sport online :

Goal-line technology will not be used in the Carling Cup final, a Football League spokesman has told BBC Sport.

Comments attributed to Fifa chief Sepp Blatter suggested technology to clear up goal-line incidents would be used.

Confusion may have arisen because Blatter is attending a meeting in Cardiff to discuss rule changes the day before the Millennium Stadium final.

“Something may have been lost in translation,” said Football League spokesman Ian Christon.

Fifa has confirmed that the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that considers rule changes, will consider the issue of goal-line technology at its meeting on 26 February.