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Goal-line technology would be 100 per cent accurate and could be effectively free for English Premier League clubs, the inventor of the Hawk-Eye system has claimed.
Paul Hawkins, managing director of Hawk-Eye Innovations, gave a cautious welcome to FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s announcement that the issue of goal-line technology would be revisited next month, just four months after FIFA had kicked it into touch.
He said the spin-off from sponsorship would more than cover the STG125,000 ($A222,000) to STG250,000 ($A444,000) cost per ground of installing and running the system.
Hawkins said: “We would install it free of charge in every Premier League ground if we could have the rights to sell the sponsorship.
“That just highlights that it is commercially viable and that the cost would not be an issue.”
Blatter has suggested that Hawk-Eye may not be the answer because it is based on cameras and “cameras can’t see everything”, but Hawkins rejected that.
He added: “It’s 100 per cent accurate. Hawk-Eye has been independently tested by the Premier League and the International FA Board, and shown to work in all instances tested.”
Hawkins said he hoped Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany would provide the spark for technology to be brought in.
Blatter on Tuesday attempted to defuse the crisis over refereeing by apologising to England over Lampard’s disallowed goal and to Mexico over Carlos Tevez’s blatantly offside goal, and performing an abrupt U-turn on goal-line technology.
The FIFA president said: “It is obvious that, after the experience so far in this World Cup, it would be a nonsense to not reopen the file of technology at the business meeting of the International FA Board in July.
“I have spoken to the two federations [England and Mexico] directly concerned by referees’ mistakes. I have expressed to them apologies and I understand they are not happy and that people are criticising.
“We will naturally take on board the discussion on technology and have first opportunity in July at the business meeting.”
HOW THE GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY DEBATE DEVELOPED
1999: The Football League request permission to install cameras in goalposts for the League Cup final – but the proposal is rejected by FIFA.
2006: The International FA Board (IFAB), the game’s rule-making body, give approval to Adidas and Cairos Technology to experiment with a ‘chip in the ball’ called a ‘smartball’.
2007: The ‘smartball’ is tested at the FIFA under-17 world championships in Peru but suffers some technical problems.
Meanwhile the Premier League commission Hawkeye to develop a system.
2008: FIFA plus the Welsh and Northern Irish FAs vote to put any technology experiments on ice in favour of Michel Platini’s proposal for two extra assistant referees behind each goal-line. Premier League chairman Sir David Richards tells Platini: “You’re killing football”.
2009: Thierry Henry’s handball in the World Cup qualifier against Ireland prompts FIFA president Sepp Blatter to re-visit the idea of technology and the Scottish FA decide they will raise it at the next IFAB meeting.
2010: March – FIFA, backed once again by Wales and Northern Ireland, again vote against technology. FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said: “This is an end to the potential use of technology within football”.
June 26 – Valcke re-states FIFA’s position, saying the issue was “definitely not on the table”.
June 27 – Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal – where the ball crossed the line – in England’s 4-1 World Cup second loss to Germany leads to an international furore.
June 29 – Blatter announces goal-line technology will be considered again.
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