Using TV in a football game

As far as I know, the game's official rules don't include any paragraph that allows the referee to use TV replays. I know that there's a lot of talking in the last few years on that matter, but fro some reasons, the top guys in FIFA are not rushing to implement such a change in the rules.

The use of technology to aid referees in football (soccer) games is the core of a wide debate in the football world.

Some cheap adjustments have been made, such as the use of a microchip inside the ball, to help decide if it did cross the goal line.

However, the heart of the debate is the use of TV cameras, re-runs and different angles during the matches. The pro's are clear to everyone - a referee is only human, he doesn't always see everything that happens on the field (things happening far from him, or behind his back), and sometimes things happen so fast, that there's no way he could see them.

Many decisions taken by the referees can incline the match and affect the final result, which sometimes has huge financial implications for the losing team.

The advocates for the use of TV cameras claim that by allowing the referees to use cameras in situations in which they have a doubt, will allow us to avoid all those times a team is harmed unjustly by a wrong decision.

However, not so many people know the other side of the coin.

Try to think why is it that football is the most popular sport on earth? the reason is that you don't need anything in order to play football, but a spherical object and something to mark the goal line. Every kid around the world can play it, and imagine he's in a giant stadium playing in front of 100,000 spectators, because he doesn't need any helmet, or bat, of special protection accessories as in other, less popular sports.

The simple idea of football is that it's played the same everywhere, and it doesn't matter if you have money or not - why do you think American football is played almost only in the states and a few other rich countries? Because you need a strong financial infrastructure to have a league.

You must remember that not all football matches are like Champions League or World Cup matches, which are filmed by 17 cameras.

Football fans around the world need to know that the exact same conditions exist in an italian Serie A match, another in the british premiership, and also in the women's third division matches in Chile, for that matter.

Most official football games around the world aren't filmed, and using cameras as a refereeing aid only in the rich leagues could end up being catastrophic to the popularity of football.

We all know the referees are only human, and their mistakes have always been part of the game. Many historic matches will be remembered by controversial decisions made by referees, and that's part of the beauty of the game, which isn't controlled by machines, and stopped every few minutes just to make sure what the cameras caught on tape.

As a fanatic football fan, I'm definitely against the use of TV cameras during the game.

Wow,That cleared things out. Thanks a bunch.

You are soo right my friend, Im a die hard football fan, and I have never seen this question from your point of view, it truly is the reason why the beautiful game is still the most simple, popular and overall human game on Earth!

I disagree.  Let the refs use instant replay in football.  It'll weed out the floppers