video replays

ok peeps....time for another poll
video replays.....i expect this has been covered b4...but lets have another go....
do you think, given the seriousness of an incorrect decision, its time for video replays ( penalties/ bad tackles etc )

No, never. OK, so armchair viewers sometimes get a better view of what went on than the ref - so what? This is a game played between 11 BLOKES against another 11 BLOKES officiated by another 3 BLOKES (there wouldn't be a 4th official if I had my way). Where would you draw the line? Most of the rules of the game include a caveat to allow for referee's discretion, so it's not black and white whether someone was offside (were they interfering/active?) or whether it was a penalty (was the handball intentional?). The OBJECTIVE only thing it could be used for is whether the ball crossed the line - and most arguments are NOT about this (despite the famous one in 1966) they are about whether it was a foul, did someone handle the ball, was so-and-so interfering with play, etc.

All it would do is move the argument from the pitch to the TV studio/5th officials screen. Also, where would you use it vs not? Do you draw the line at premiership games or have it in all league football? If so, who foots the bill?

I am also concerned about the time it takes to review these decisions. We already seem to get 3/4 minutes added time at the end of every game - how much more will come as a result of video replays? I imagine there would be a 30 sec - 1 minute delay while the incident is reviewed from several angles. It will do more to break up the flow of the game than D'Urso on a bad day. The bad refs will probably use it to bottle every major decision they possibly can.

This is OK for stop/start games like cricket but not for a faster flowing game like football. Don't wreck the game any more - leave it as it is.

Who is gonna pay for Whitehawk's or King George Under 12s video screens? You can not have one rule for the Premiershi and another for the southern Premier league etc - that is why football is great - same rules from top to bottom!

Basically I'm opposed and I echo Spiros and jmc's sentiments. The whole 'jumpers for goalposts' ethos of football being a simple game goes out of the window once you start saying that 'proper' football needs tons of technical equipment. I know other sports do it to a limited extent (cricket for example) and no one claims that the village green game has suffered because there's no video screen but even in Test cricket it has a limited use, LBW and caught behind decisions for example are still left to the umpire. Also as has been said Cricket (and also Rugby League and American football*) are more stop/start game.

Ok, so if a football referee gets it wrong it costs potentially millions of pounds but that's not the ref's fault. Star strikers miss open goals, 'keepers misjudge crosses and Linesmen miss offsides. That's life, that's football.


*Incidentally in the NFL they scrapped the blanket use of video decisions because it delayed the game too much! Now it's only on certain calls.