I’m rather surprised that Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s stubborn president is fast in admitting that their organization is in the wrong field. They must’ve been praying hard for those humiliating fault not to repeat itself for the rest of the game. England’s striker Frank Lampard was robbed of a complete legit goal by an out-of-position referee, resulting in a loss to Germany. Perhaps, if that goal was considered legit, the spirit of the Brits won’t sunk that fast in the 2nd hand of the game. Same thing happened again, where Argentina’s Carlos Tevez scored an offside goal in a win over Mexico due to referees that are unable to see the fault in action on the stop. But then, we as the audiences and the fans are rather used to such errors in the football game, that I believe many would get uneasy if they do implement such technologies into the game. Anyway, let’s check out the suggestions. They seemed rather interesting.

1. Go to the video.
MLB umpires use it to review controversial home runs. NBA officials rely on it to scrutinize three-point shots, goal-tending and buzzer beaters. NFL officials use it to review plays challenged by each team. Perhaps the NHL is the best model for soccer, given their shared concern over not disrupting the flow of the game. It’s used for disputed goals, not off-sides calls.
“It’s the simplest solution in soccer for goal/no-goal,” says Hank Adams, CEO of Sportvision, the industry leader in providing digital extras, such as the virtual first-down marker, for broadcasters and sports leagues. By letting officials review broadcast video only, the same footage that fans see, he says, leagues promote transparency.
2. Rate the refs.
The next step would be adding goal-line technology similar to the Hawkeye system used at Wimbledon. That, used in conjunction with video review, could be used to rate referees on their performance, much the same way Major League Baseball rates its umpires against Sportsvision’s digital strike-zone. They get graded on every game and ranked for accuracy. “There was some resistance at first, but now umpires want to know their scores,” says Adams. “They use their scores to make the case that they should get playoff assignments.” They also use it in training new umpires and preparing to calls games against new pitchers like the Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg, to see how his pitches move through the zone.
3. Walk before you run.
There’s a new wave of instrumentation coming, with tiny RFID sensors embedded in balls, uniforms, and cleats, to track each athlete’s position on the field. Other leagues are experimenting. So should FIFA. “They have an under-17 series,” says Adams. “They should try things out there before introducing it at the World Cup level.”

Eventually, he says, the sensors will help referees identify off-sides violations, an incredibly hard call to make in real time with lightning fast athletes. A monitoring system could alert officials as soon as a ball is kicked that an offensive player is out of position. After a quick whistle, the game would resume, and any delay could be made up for in overage. It might eliminate the sort brouhaha that erupted when the U.S. team’s potentially game-winning goal against Slovenia was erased by a controversial call.

Ultimately, says Adams, the issue for Blatter and the heads of other sports leagues is less about specific technology and more about embracing change. “The more successful these leagues are, the more pressure there is on the people running them not to mess up,” he says.

[via Deadspin]