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2014 FIFA World Cup: Goal-line technology's first controversy

15th June, 2014
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Goal line technology gets its first test (via Goal Control)
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15th June, 2014
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When technology meets sport, controversy follows. The 2014 FIFA World Cup is the first in which first time goal-line technology has been used, and the France-Honduras match saw the first goal to be ruled on by the 14-camera system. There were some issues.

In the 50th minute, a strike from France’s Karim Benzema rebounded off the far post and appeared to be regathered by Honduran keeper Noel Valladares. A second later, Brazilian referee Sandro Meira Ricci blew his whistle, awarding a French goal.

Ricci’s smartwatch had vibrated on his wrist, telling him the ball had crossed the goal line.

In the stadium and on TV the technology showed the replay from its angle with HawkEye-reminiscent animation. The ball bounced off the post and froze. ‘No goal’ flashed on the screen. The stadium erupted, surely the goal had been overturned?

But the animated ball continued on its path, colliding with Valladares, crossing the line in mid-air by the thinnest of margins before the keeper regathered.

‘Goal’ – an own goal at that.

There was uproar. A FIFA official arrived on the pitch to clarify the ruling. Honduran manager Luis Fernando Suárez furiously remonstrated with Franch gaffer Didier Deschamps, who was either bemused or smug.

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FIFA’s Laws of the Game state “A goal is scored when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line.” The ball crossed the line by the slimmest of margins, meaning a goal which looked to have been denied by referee error was rightfully awarded.

But the delivery was horrendous. Putting the words ‘No goal’ up on the stadium big screens before clarifying that it was, in fact, a goal was a recipe for disaster.

“Do they just make it up?” Gary Linnekar asked in the post-match analysis, unconvinced the whole of the ball had crossed the line. Thierry Henry felt it was a clear goal (a Frenchman thought it was a goal – shocker).

But if the BBC commentators found cause to argue, imagine how thousands of Honduran fans – many of whom we can assume were inebriated – felt.

The good news is the technology works, but the point of it is to nullify human error and provide clarity. The boos echoing around Estádio Beira-Rio gave voice to a deafening lack of clarity.

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