First comments from Martin Hansson

[Stuttgart88]

The two extra officials used in Europa cup games (and now being touted for use at the World Cup finals) are a waste of time if they (like the linesman at our game) don't make the calls. Ask Roy Hodgson what he thinks of the two extra officials. Fulham have been robbed in at least two games in this years Europa Cup by dubious decisions. Only technology will sort this out.

Wasn't there the example recently of Stephen Kelly being sent off for a Hagelaand foul right in front of the extra official at Craven Cottage - or some incident anyway that totally rubbished the effectiveness of the extra official in an incident that happened right under his nose.

The calls for video technology are misplaced in my opinion. Take the Chelsea v Barcelona controversy from last year. The hysterical UK media called for 4 separate penalties for Chelsea, none of which was awarded. In my opinion only one was a valid call and even that was credibly disputed by one or two posters here. You can't have one official (the ref) in charge of one judgment call and then defer the decision to another for what is again a judgment call. Whether the ball is over the line or not is beyond judgment - that can be determined by technology. The Henry incident could certainly have been determined without any controversy as having been handball, but how do you legislate for it? What about less obvious cases of delibertae handball or dives? Where do you draw the line? One person's blatantly obvious is another person's marginal (if even).

There is scope for video technology but only for black and white calls, not judgmental ones.

[osarusan]

Wasn't there the example recently of Stephen Kelly being sent off for a Hagelaand foul right in front of the extra official at Craven Cottage - or some incident anyway that totally rubbished the effectiveness of the extra official in an incident that happened right under his nose.

The calls for video technology are misplaced in my opinion. Take the Chelsea v Barcelona controversy from last year. The hysterical UK media called for 4 separate penalties for Chelsea, none of which was awarded. In my opinion only one was a valid call and even that was credibly disputed by one or two posters here. You can't have one official (the ref) in charge of one judgment call and then defer the decision to another for what is again a judgment call. Whether the ball is over the line or not is beyond judgment - that can be determined by technology. The Henry incident could certainly have been determined without any controversy as having been handball, but how do you legislate for it? What about less obvious cases of delibertae handball or dives? Where do you draw the line? One person's blatantly obvious is another person's marginal (if even).

There is scope for video technology but only for black and white calls, not judgmental ones.

You should post this in the video evidence thread in world football.

[Noelys Guitar]

Wasn't there the example recently of Stephen Kelly being sent off for a Hagelaand foul right in front of the extra official at Craven Cottage - or some incident anyway that totally rubbished the effectiveness of the extra official in an incident that happened right under his nose.

The calls for video technology are misplaced in my opinion. Take the Chelsea v Barcelona controversy from last year. The hysterical UK media called for 4 separate penalties for Chelsea, none of which was awarded. In my opinion only one was a valid call and even that was credibly disputed by one or two posters here. You can't have one official (the ref) in charge of one judgment call and then defer the decision to another for what is again a judgment call. Whether the ball is over the line or not is beyond judgment - that can be determined by technology. The Henry incident could certainly have been determined without any controversy as having been handball, but how do you legislate for it? What about less obvious cases of delibertae handball or dives? Where do you draw the line? One person's blatantly obvious is another person's marginal (if even).

There is scope for video technology but only for black and white calls, not judgmental ones.

Two call maximum per side per game might work. I agree there is no perfect way. But it took 90 or so seconds for the game to restart. The Henry handball would have been spotted immediately. So the game would probably have restarted in less than 30 seconds.

[Stuttgart88]

Two call maximum per side per game might work.

Take the Ledley King foul / tackle on Voronin earlier in the year where Liverpool claim they were denied a second penalty. Was it a body check or simply a fair shoulder to shoulder collision? Even the experts were divided on it. A time out call would have resolved nothing, nor would it have at the Chelsea v Barcelona game.

You could say a 5th TV official can adjudicate unilaterally in obvious cases like Henry, but what is "obvious"? One man's obvious is another's ambiguous in football.

[irishfan86]

Take the Ledley King foul / tackle on Voronin earlier in the year where Liverpool claim they were denied a second penalty. Was it a body check or simply a fair shoulder to shoulder collision? Even the experts were divided on it. A time out call would have resolved nothing, nor would it have at the Chelsea v Barcelona game.

You could say a 5th TV official can adjudicate unilaterally in obvious cases like Henry, but what is "obvious"? One man's obvious is another's ambiguous in football.

Well, you could make the main referee responsible for all decisions- in the NFL they don't defer the decision to another person as far as I know, the referee just runs over to a monitor on the sidelines (you could have a tech guy there to help view the replays).

Obviously it means there would be more of a delay factor, but who cares about a minute delay if it means the game is called accurately- even though stoppages might be more common in the initial stages, eventually players would know they weren't going to get away with things and these delays would be reduced.

[geysir]

Wasn't there the example recently of Stephen Kelly being sent off for a Hagelaand foul right in front of the extra official at Craven Cottage - or some incident anyway that totally rubbished the effectiveness of the extra official in an incident that happened right under his nose.

That is at least one bad call in how many games?
I have seen a few good calls which were said to have been advised by the extra officials.
The effectiveness of the extra officials would need to be properly researched, over all the games they have been involved in.