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The handball that shook the world has now led many to divert discussion to whether or not it is time to let technology assist referees in making the right decision? CTA has a look at the arguments for and against such a dramatic step in football history...

Essentially we have two sides of the coin here.

On the one hand- the football purist, who believes that the ref’s decisions( right or wrong) is part of the beauty of the game. To bring in technology would slow the game, override the ref and draw a distinct line in soccer history between the ‘old days of human error’ and the new era ‘of mechanical efficiency’.

The passion, in their opinion, would be lost. The tears and joy that comes from the game , and more so a rough decision, would be replaced by stale applause, and calls for video refs on the smallest issues like ‘whose throw-in’ is it?

On the other hand you have the new age thinker, who believes that to not embrace technology is to our own detriment- we put airbags in our cars, a man on the moon and microwaved our popcorn didn’t we? Hearts have been broken on such large scales based , not necessarily  on the incompetence of the refs, but due to a simple characteristic acknowledged by lamens and academics alike... the flaws of human error.

The argument continues, that why should the hopes and dreams of fans be placed in the hands of one man with a whistle, who may at any split of a second miss the crux of a moment leaving the innocent grieving for resolution. Imagine the Irish, victims to the hand of Thiery Henry that saw their World Cup aspirations crumble in front of them or Chelsea to the ‘misjudgment’ of a Norwegian ref in the champion’s League semi finals (yip, this author is a Blues fan).

I can see the arguments placed forward by both sides, but for me we need to utilise that which technology has afforded to us. In one case teams and fans may be gutted by a costly decision going against them, while in the other they are gutted because... the truth was revealed??? It does not seem equivalent to me. Furthermore, it worked in Tennis, and I believe with the ‘transition to technology’ over in the game (tennis), all the players are happier for it (and that’s ‘hawk-eye’, speculative in itself). I think it is something that has to happen! There is simply too much at stake these days. But the only question that remains is how?

We do not want the game to be slowed down so technology can be thrown down at every mildly contentious decision, like a corner . Maybe it could be incorporated to only goal and penalty decisions? At the same time, refs imagine they have got the decision right so would they even call for a ref? Maybe captains should have an appeal a game to utilise at their discretion. At the end of the day, it works in tennis and rugby so why, after a transition period, would it not work in football? Agreed, that it would be hard for everyone to implement with its cost implications, but in the champions league or World Cup – No Brainer.

At the end of the day, this debate has never been pulled into such fury as with the latest Henry handball debacle and to such an extent that FIFA will be having an emergency meeting on Robben Island two days before the world cup draw (on Dec 4) to try and resolve these and other extenuating circumstances that may arise during our magical African World cup.