Big Brother - will he deface the game?

In football the tug-of-war between the law-makers and those who are pushing forward the idea of updating the game to keep it abreast with modern trends is growing in intensity.

There are not a few who hazard to forecast situations that might be commonplace within a few years if the football authorities succumb to the ever-increasing modern technological and commercial demands which are being made on the game.

Imagine a match being divided in several parts rather than in two halves of 45 minutes each. The number of segments depends on the frequency of episodes which need to be replayed so that an adjudicating panel can confirm or overrule the decision of the referee. Stoppages for verification would be at the discretion of a technical expert representing each of the two teams.

Until a decision is reached by the panel, commercials for the spectators and TV viewers will be adequate fillers, very much on the lines of adverts splitting TV programmes. The outcome, although bizarre since a game will definitely last much longer than 90 minutes - if there is an end to it at all! - should annul undetected mistakes by the match officials.

This scenario would ensure that those advocating the introduction of modern technology into the game will finally have their way. All disputes regarding decisions by referees will be settled and team players and their clans will bury the hatchet once all decisions are taken in a crystal-clear way thanks to the electronic eye or the micro-chip.

However, there will still be the unnatural stoppages in the game until decisions are taken, for example, on a controversial episode leading to a goal. If it is given then we would be regaled with the grotesquely artificial way in which the goal is again 'greeted' some time after the ball has entered the net!

Discussions will be restricted only to what might have been had not the ball hit the frame of goal, or had not the attacker missed a glorious chance... and many other episodes relating to luck or the absence of it, mistakes by players - a privilege which, incidentally, is only bestowed upon them! - and match situations resulting from natural elements such as gusts of wind, a soggy, uneven or slippery surface, as well as a multitude of other circumstances not related to the referee's decisions which could have a bearing on the game.

These episodes will give rise to discussion, but thankfully never to controversy, despite the fact that arguments of this nature will be as flat as the famous Mona Lisa on canvas.

The intrusion of 'Big Brother' through modern technology will eliminate once and for all controversy which is the spark of life that lingers on long after a match is over.

According to those championing the cause of these ultra modern aids in football, there will be no doubt as to the way the rules are correctly applied. Referees will only be peripheral figures now that decisions in the game are conducted on the basis of the video or radio technology.

Now, let us for a moment eliminate the elements of uniformity and universality that are overriding factors in the application of the Laws of the Game.

Can 'Big Brother' in reality answer all ponderables, given there are endless variables - not just linear ones - in the game?

We should keep in mind that football is poles apart from Rugby League, tennis and other sport where video evidence is normally resorted to when linear decisions have to be made.

But then, will the camera clarify to the referee and the adjudicating panel whether a forward in an alleged offside position was in fact interfering with play or with an opponent? In a supposedly handling offence can the video replay always answer the question whether it was 'hand-to-ball' or 'ball-to-hand'?

And if the camera does resolve certain episodes, who will guarantee that no team official or manager will not query the footage as to the angle of the shots, the use of the right equipment, or in extreme cases, whether the electronic device is faulty?

The key question is... will football be better off if 'Big Brother' is allowed to tinker with the way a match is conducted on the field of play?

Thankfully, FIFA are very cautious about allowing the use of technology in the decision-making process.

The 'smart ball' innovation for determining whether the ball has crossed the goal line through a radio signal from the micro-chip is the latest foray into technological territory.

For the foreseeable future, the scenario of 'video football' would have to remain in the realms of fantasy. Mistakes, to which we are all prone in every walk of life, are accepted with a vestige of decorum, as has been the case with football throughout the years.

Of course, the proviso is an unwavering resolve to eliminate them as much as possible.

But not to the extent of allowing 'Big Brother' to deface the Game.