Oh, jeez. Uefa President Michel Platini has officially come out against the use of goal-line technology. This isn’t some TV pundit or anything, this is the president of Uefa, probably the most influential regional football body on the planet! Maybe Platini will come out against the use of studs in boots, or maybe he’ll come out against the use of stadium floodlights. After all, the football gods created the Sun so that we could play during the daylight hours, right?
Rather than rely on goal-line technology, Platini says the solution is putting an extra official (referee) on the goal lines, as well as to instill a better sense of respect for the word of the referee.
I don’t think anyone is opposed to respecting the referees a bit more (though the Respect campaign was always a bit silly), but that’s not what we’re talking about here. All I want is for when the ball crosses the line, I don’t know, a light turns on, like in the NHL. Will that really destroy the game?
Hilariously, Platini said the addition of goal-line technology would lead to “PlayStation football.”
By that I guess he means accurate football.
I’d be more willing to listen to arguments about the encroachment of other forms of technology in football, but the lack of goal-line technology in nearly 2011 is pretty much unacceptable.
And seriously: people who say that, oh, the game needs controversy like Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany, just go away. You’re defending a wrongheaded practice (the lack of goal-line technology) for your own selfish reasons, namely so that you and your mates can have something to argue about after the game.
Man this debate is annoying.