FIFA World Cup 2010

[chuck]

Originally Posted by //\/\/

...you also need a replay technician at every match, a team to run the technology, somewhere to house it, an extra official to adjudicate...

Forgot about that - here in NZ, we have the "third umpire/TMO/video replay" for Super 14 games, and test matches - but not for the national provincial championship. And that's despite those NPC games being televised - the decision was made, on the basis of cost, that those games wouldn't have video replay.

This has caused some consternation - as there's still controversial decisions.

But that's a decision that's been made - and all teams know it - and despite controversial decisions being made. The other key point about rugby officiating - is that the TMO can only be used to adjudicate on the awarding or non-awarding of a try. It's a natural break in the game - and so does not disrupt (apart from the delay for replay) the flow of the game. In the event the cameras cannot confirm a try or no-try - the onfield referee has to make a call that determines how the game is restarted. But of course it's a very different (and far, far better) game than football.

Even if Fifa goes for some form of video replay, and I'm not discounting it - it has to be strictly implemented. In rugby for instance, the on field referee is still the absolute law - and can only ask the TMO for confirmation of a decision made on the field. This is unlike cricket, where like Nutters says - umpires are now almost totally reliant on the TMO - and in tests now, teams can "challenge" a decision several times. This is similar to the challenge system in tennis.

At some point you have to trust your referees - and give them power to make decisions - acknowledging that sometimes they'll be the wrong ones.

Referees and umpires are already constantly and consistently abused by players in football - whereas in rugby, only the captain is officially meant to speak to the ref. If video replay undermines that authority even further - how much will the game become a free-for-all?

Who challenges the refs call? The captain? The coach?

Here in the A-League they ban the replaying of any controversial footage on the screen in the stadium of the game is being played in. Have ever since the league began. It's designed to prevent riots when issues like this happen. The broadcast feed to satellite/TV still has replays in though.

EDIT : Appears FIFA are doing the same thing. Which is just silly now.... it's not the officiating - it's the replays! Muppets.

[chuck]

And now for some topical humor.

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Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?

A. According to FIFA the chicken did not cross the road.

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What was the most commonly asked question posed to England's footballers today?

Chicken or beef?

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Feel free to add...

[//\/\/]

wayne rooney has broken david blaine's record for doing nothing in a box...

[//\/\/]

but yes, kos - we really should be getting back to the programme!

[matt]

Originally Posted by chuck

Here in the A-League they ban the replaying of any controversial footage on the screen in the stadium of the game is being played in. Have ever since the league began. It's designed to prevent riots when issues like this happen. The broadcast feed to satellite/TV still has replays in though.

EDIT : Appears FIFA are doing the same thing. Which is just silly now.... it's not the officiating - it's the replays! Muppets.

I thought that was a long standing FIFA directive. Whenever we go and watch Wales play they never show replays of contentious issues on the big screens. I understood it was just a bit of a cock up when the big screens at the Argentina Mexico match relayed the replay clearly showing Tevez offside.

I also don't get the football mentality that seems to be cropping up that you'd have to introduce video replays across the board. Why not just for the big tournaments and leagues that have cameras at every game anyway. That's what they do in rugby. In fact, in the Heineken Cup (the premier rugby competition in the world and much better than that S14 lark where they score about 10 tries each per game) there's usually a couple of games each round (the ones not on Sky) that don't have video replays available even though the other matches do. Both sides know the rules before hand so there's no real problem.

Anyway, here's hoping one of today's games provides us with the first penalty shootout of the tournament.

[BrotherLovesDub]

Goal line technology means no replay necessary for determining goals.

Should celebrations be banned too? You do realize how much time is wasted by the goal scorer running and sliding and the subsequent dogpile. That takes several minutes every time a goal is scored. Time stops during a match all the time. I'm not sure why it's ok to celebrate for 3 minutes but not review a play.

[cured]

wow what a game...Portugal had the best defense in the tournament and Spain couldn't generate many quality chances at all. It looked as if Spain's porous back line would crack open several times but they got good goalkeeping, a couple fortuitous bounces, and Portugal couldn't put one in.

That red card at the end though was a bit odd. I didn't see what happened to Capdevilla and it almost looked like he took a dive.

[stimpee]

I thought Spain edged it. goal was maybe offside but if it was it was by the length of a boot. anyway, better than penalties.

[cured]

It looks like the Nike curse is in full effect now!



All of those players had bad World Cups.

[//\/\/]

phew - the slack-jawed, kitten-torturing, diving genius is out!