British media Bull Shit

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Just the usual English bias.

Here's another piece along the same lines:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 955319.ece

[RomaShield27]

Technology back on IFAB agenda
Reuters - Yesterday, 02:00

ZURICH - Goal-line technology will be back on the agenda when football's rule-making body meets on Saturday following a series of high-profile refereeing controversies.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) will be presented with two possible systems although officials are in no hurry to implement technology and its use at this year's World Cup is out of the question.

The IFAB will consider an end to automatic sendings-off when a player denies the opposition a clear scoring chance, believing the current system constitutes a "triple punishment" of penalty, red card and automatic suspension for the offender.

Penalty-takers could be banned from feinting in their run-up under another proposed change and the board will also review the experiment in this year's Europa League where one extra linesman has been placed behind each goal to help the referee spot infringements.

UEFA president Michel Platini is optimistic that extra linesmen could make the use of technology unnecessary. Football's governing body FIFA has come under intense pressure to help referees, whose mistakes are cruelly exposed by television replays from varying angles.

One of the most high-profile cases was the Thierry Henry handball incident during November's World Cup qualifying play-off between France and Ireland, and there were two more major rows involving referees in the Champions League last month.

NEVER-ENDING STORY
"This is a never-ending story. It is not terrible. It is what can happen in football," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said recently.

"It is not a case of me and Michel Platini being stubborn. We need to see a system which is accurate but which must also be immediate."

General secretary Jerome Valcke echoed Blatter's comments. "Nothing will change at the World Cup. We cannot use the World Cup to test things," he said.

"It's too late now to change the system. We have been working with our referees for more than two years now and they are the best trios. Plus, there is no proposal in place at the moment which completely guarantees that a switch to another system would be without problems.

The IFAB will be shown presentations of the the Kairos system, which uses a chip inserted in the ball, and the Hawkeye system used in tennis and cricket. Technology has been discussed by the IFAB before - the Kairos system was tested at the world under-17 championship in Peru in 2005 - but was put on ice. Platini, meanwhile, has put his faith in the use of extra linesman.

The IFAB, founded in 1886 and seen as the guardian of the rules of the game, is composed of the representatives from the FAs of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, each having one vote. FIFA has four votes and a 75 percent majority is needed for any proposal to be passed.

[Messinterista]

[Messinterista]

[San Paolo]

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[Messinterista]

Good points lads. 5 votes and only two responses?

[maro]

I voted no - mostly to rile the Avvocato, but also because I think in large part the cry for technology entails a misconception of the nature of the problem. The best argument I've encountered for the use of technology is to close the gap between the tv viewer's experience of the game and the game itself - because the overwhelming majority of people who watch any (vaguely big) game these days will do so on tv, their experience of the game (in terms of errors and the like) will be via replays and so it makes sense to make the experience of those they're watching equivalent. If your most important consumer of the game is the tv-viewer, then it makes sense to have technology; if that's not your most important 'participant', then I'm not fussed.

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From the point of view of someone who actually attends matches, I would have to say that bad decisions can actually be a good thing, though obviously you don't want your team to be fucked over.

The number of games I've been at that were low key and dull, until a bad refereeing decision got the fans and players angry and injected some life into the game, would be considerable.

Sometimes some bad refereeing can be great.

[RomaShield27]

[RomaShield27]

Coaching guile ends English era of plenty
www.timesonline.co.uk – April 8, 2010

We knew it was not a vintage year for our leading teams; now we have the proof. No English clubs in the last four of the Champions League for the first time in seven years. After the feast, the famine.

The semi-finals will be contested by clubs from France, Spain, Italy and Germany; a nicely cosmopolitan mix that will no doubt delight Michel Platini, the Uefa president. But should it worry us? Not unless you are supporters of Manchester United or Chelsea.

As a nation, we need not read into the advance of Lyons that our own Barclays Premiershit is now lagging behind Ligue 1, any more than Bayern Munich’s progress is decisive proof of a wider German revival. As for Italy, if AC Milan’s old men can remain firmly in the hunt for the title then Serie A is not back to the rude health of the Eighties and Nineties.

What does stand out is the work of the coaches in José Mourinho of Inter Milan, Louis van Gaal with Bayern and Claude Puel at Lyons. At Barcelona, of course, Pep Guardiola has fine-tuned the game’s most brilliant ensemble. It is not Italian football that is reborn, but Inter thanks to Mourinho’s good work; not German football that is marching again but Van Gaal, who has revived a mighty Bavarian institution.

RELATED LINKS
Robben's brilliance finishes off United
Germany celebrates the 'sweetest defeat'
Rooney picked to face Bayern
In time, there may be cause for our clubs to worry as Platini’s “financial fair playâ€

[Italiamia]

Two in three people want video replays, poll shows


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – About two-thirds of people think video replays should be used to avert refereeing blunders like those that marred two World Cup games at the weekend, a survey showed on Thursday.

England and Mexico fell victim to howlers by officials in their second-round matches on Sunday, prompting an apology from FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Blatter, who rejected the use of goalline technology just three months ago, said the game's governing body would now look again at the issue, although he ruled out using video replays.

The New York-based Nielsen Company surveyed 27,000 people in 55 countries on questions related to soccer's biggest event, including whether referees should have video replays to help them make close calls.

Sixty-five percent of them backed the use of video replays at the World Cup. Only about one in 10 respondents said the ban should stay, while the rest were undecided, the research company said in a statement.

Technology is already used in other major sports such as cricket and tennis.

Nielsen's online poll showed regional support for video technology to be used at the World Cup was strongest in South America, where 79 percent respondents thought FIFA should change its position.

However, in Ireland, whose team lost a playoff to reach the World Cup finals after an infamous handball by France's Thierry Henry, 84 percent of people said video assistance was a good idea.

The company said online discussion about video replays soared after the refereeing decisions that hit England and Mexico at the weekend.

[Italiamia]

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[maro]

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[Messinterista]

It needs to be introduced. End of. Blatter is just saying that it will be looked at just to cover his corrupt ass, won't happen though.

[maro]

That was in response to Gio rather than to you, red.

End of? lol. I love the way people seem to like to follow up their internet opinions with "fact." - as if that somehow made a statement of opinion more compelling. "Ronaldo is the best player in the world. Fact. Quagliarella's rubbish. Fact."

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Next you'll be telling me that writing in capital letters doesn't make a point stronger.

[Italiamia]