England and Germany square off for FIFA goal line tech prize
Let's hope it doesn't come down to penalties
Little known football teams Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Auckland City made history on Thursday after their Club World Cup match was the first ever official fixture to feature goal line technology.
The game saw the use of GoalRef, a radio-based system developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits which works by creating two low-frequency magnetic fields – one in the goal area and the other around the ball.
Coils attached to the goal then monitor the interaction between the magnetic field induced in the goal area and that created around the ball, which is fitted with a passive electronic circuit, according to the Institute.
The resulting data is apparently processed in realtime by the system and sent wirelessly to the referee’s watch.
Yesterday’s match apparently yielded few opportunities to test the system, but it will go head-to-head against English rival Hawk-Eye in succeeding matches in the tournament before FIFA decides which to choose for the Confederations Cup in Brazil next year and, in all likelihood, the World Cup there in 2014.
Hawk-Eye is more of a known quantity, having been used extensively in cricket and tennis matches.
It works by triangulating the visual images generated by numerous high speed cameras placed around the field of play. It can also be set to notify the referee in near real-time whether a ball has crossed the line by sending a message to his watch, according to Reuters.
The decision to introduce the technology comes a whole two years after an infamous disallowed goal by England’s Frank Lampard against Germany in the last World Cup. Despite landing fully across the line it was mysteriously not spotted by either linesman or referee – prompting gratuitous “we was robbed” outbursts from the English diaspora all over the world.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, who successfully derailed England’s bid to host the World Cup in 2018, has resisted goal line technology for years but even he found it hard not to step into the 21st century after that incident.
"What happened at the World Cup in 2010 cannot happen again," FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told reporters ahead of Thursday’s historic game.
"The World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world. The ball was not two centimetres in the goal - it was clearly in.” ®
COMMENTS
Errata
The decision to introduce the technology comes a whole two 46 years after an infamous disallowed goal by England’s Frank Lampard Geoff Hurst against Germany in the last '66 World Cup. Despite not landing fully across the line it was mysteriously not spotted by either linesman or and referee – prompting gratuitous “we was robbed” "wir wurden bestohlen" outbursts from the English German diaspora all over the world.
there... fixed that for you.
Re: Fat Frank
Re taking undue credit, I think you'll find your man is John "I got myself kitted out and went to lift the trophy that my team-mates had won while I sat and watched" Terry
Re: Germany vs England
From the outside looking in, it's very easy to see who's the "boss" here.
For England, every game vs Germany is a huge rivalry, high-stakes, must-win game with the nation's pride and honur at stake.
For Germany, it's just another game against a regular opponent, which they most likely will win, business as usual.
England football fans are like the annoying small dogs being aggressive and making lots of noise, and sure, their team will occasionally win a scrap, but they are nowhere when the big dogs are playing
@werdsmith
"There isn't the money in the game, at grass roots level. FIFA wanted to keep the actual playing of the sport consistent regardless of what level was being played."
As an outsider to the wonders of the internal politics of FIFA, it would seem that what theywant to do is whatever a tiny, select group of aging has-beens grew up with and/or think is "proper". IMO of course. I reckon there's also a big difference between competitive international games and your average Sunday league knock-about - there is a similar usage in tennis at the various levels of the sport, and increasingly cricket, and that doesn't seem to have ruined it at either extreme (IMO again).
"Introducing tech where it is affordable starts to creep toward having different rules at different levels."
The playing rules are the same at any level, regardless of the technology - it's just the degree of assistance that the officials and players can turn to that is different. Whether you approve of the tech is, of course, absolutely up to you - but there is no requirement for change in the core regulations one way or the other. It might seem like it's creeping towards a change in the rules to some, fair enough, but that's not really born out by experience in the sports where such technology is used.
Hawkeye works well in cricket and tennis because there is a clear view of the ball from most angles at any time ... perhaps one or two fo the several cameras may occasionally be blocked by a player but the others will have a clear view of the ball abd be able to track it. However this is not the case in football ... what happens in a goal mouth scramble after a corner with half a dozen players lunging for the ball which the goal keeper dives on an claim he grabbed before the ball crossed the line. I think Hawkeye will solve all the cases where TV replays can show that a goal should have been given but may still leave contenious decisions unsolved.
As for the magnetic field system ... wait till Adidas or Nike bring out their new goalie equipemnt with "embedded magnets" (of course, these will only be intended for their theraupeiutic effects on muscles!)
