It’s a
question many Australian soccer fans, new and perhaps old, are asking after
yesterday’s disappointing World Cup result: why doesn’t soccer use technology
to help it get crucial decisions right?

Yes, I’m
asking because I think Australia was robbed on Tuesday morning when
the referee awarded Italy’s Fabio Grosso a penalty which cost
Australia the game. I’m not disappointed we lost. I’m
just disappointed the game was decided by bad refereeing.

It wasn’t
just the Aussies copping a raw deal: poor refereeing has overshadowed this
entire World Cup. Already there have been a record number of red cards issued.
Last night France took the lead against Spain from a penalty shot after Thierry
Henry dramatically fell to the ground clutching his face. Replay showed Spain’s Carlos Puyol only
contacted Henry’s chest.

So why
isn’t video – that tells the whole story and nothing but the story – used when
the stakes are so high?

FIFA argues
that reliable technology is not available and that “human error is part
of the human game of football — whether by players or referees”.
Cruel decisions, it argues, are simply the lot of players and fans.

FIFA is
concerned video consultation might create long stoppages and result in the loss
of fluidity. Yet the game already stops when a penalty or card is issued
anyway, so surely it wouldn’t hurt to take a few extra seconds to have the
video reviewed by an off-field referee to ensure the decision is actually
correct.

Calls for
video consultation are not new. Many famous games in the history of the sport
might have turned out differently had the referee been able to turn to
technology to support his view, including Argentina’s controversial win over England in the 1986 quarter-final when the
“Hand of God” assisted Diego Maradona with a goal. The sport would
have been robbed of one of its most enduring controversies, but truth would
have prevailed.

More recently the Tottenham Hotspurs in the English Premier
League were denied a victory over Manchester United when the referee didn’t see
the ball cross the goal line, sparking a new debate for video refereeing.

Until a more accurate method of adjudicating the game is
employed, the world game will continue to be plagued by suggestions of referees
favouring bigger nations, players acting for fouls, and embarrassing acts of
hooliganism among frustrated fans.