No goal-line technology for 2010
Craig Urquhart
13 March 2008The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has decided to hold off on plans to implement goal-line technology and has halted all tests until further notice.
The decision, made at Gleneagles in Scotland last weekend, effectively rules out the possibility that the 2010 Fifa World Cup would be the first to use this technology to determine whether the ball has crossed the line.
That's good news for everyone who does not want South Africa to be remembered for hosting the first clinical World Cup.
Flash back to the most extraordinary and controversial moment in World Cup history - and it wasn't "the hand of God", nor was it that headbutt!
Geoff Hurst's extra-time header for England against Germany in the 1966 final struck the underside of the cross-bar and bounced on to - or was it over? - the goal-line. Russian referee Gottfried Dienst awarded a goal and sparked a million debates around the world for decades to come.
And that's what makes football - unlike other codes such as cricket, rugby, tennis or American football - so beautiful. The human element, and human frailties, are part and parcel of the extraordinary theatre that is played out during the contest.
Of course, there have been some cruel injustices, like the blatantly incorrect penalty decision which went against Australia in the dying moment of their 2006 World Cup second round match against Italy.
Interestingly, the IFAB has approved a proposal from Fifa to conduct an experiment involving two additional assistant referees, who will mainly focus on fouls and misconduct in the penalty area.
Again, that should be welcomed. Perhaps the 2010 World Cup will be remembered for ending the kind of cheating in the penalty area that so often takes the fairness out of football.
Urquhart is a former Fifa World Cup media officer and the current editor of Project 2010
