UTV Sport - Goal-line technology ruled out

Subscribe to the Sport Feed Sportback to Sport

Goal-line technology ruled out

Text Size:  A  A |  POST A COMMENT |  PRINT |  SHARE 
French defender William Gallas scores against Irish forward Keith Andrews and Irish defender Kevin Kilbane during the World Cup 2010 qualifying football match
Football's rule-makers have shut the door on goal-line technology indefinitely on the day a legitimate goal was ruled out during an FA Cup quarter-final.


The International FA Board (IFAB) meeting in Zurich voted against continuing any further experiments with goal-line technology and effectively ended any chance of video replays coming into the game.

Opponents of technology argued that the human element of football should remain - mistakes and all.

Within minutes of the decision, Birmingham had a goal ruled out at Portsmouth when officials failed to spot David James had scooped the ball out after Liam Ridgewell's header had crossed the line.

The FA and Scottish FA had both voted in favour of technology but were defeated by six votes to two - FIFA's four votes plus those of the Welsh and Irish FAs.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said: "The door is closed. The decision was not to go ahead with technology at all."

The IFAB will decide in May whether to pursue the system of having an extra two officials behind each goal-line.

FA chief executive Ian Watmore had been in favour of goal-line technology and said: "In the end it came down to a difference of opinion about whether you believe the future of football involves technology or not.

"But some of the arguments were very powerful and persuasive and we have to accept them.

"The credibility of football is always improved if you get the critical decisions right. I would have liked to try it out in the real game to see whether it is good or not."

Goal-line technology had come back on the agenda following pressure on FIFA to look at other systems in the wake of Thierry Henry's handball in the World Cup play-off for France against the Republic of Ireland.

© Press Association

Send to a friend

Email To
Your Name
Comment
Close
Comments
0 Comments
Be the first to comment
Post a comment
Name:
Email Address:
Location:
Your Comment:
Verification Code: Captcha Code  Get New Code
POST COMMENT
[Before posting, please take a moment to familiarise yourself with our house rules. All comments are moderated and will not appear immediately. Any information you enter, including email and web addresses, will be displayed on our site if passed by our moderators.]