Video evidence

[Welsh_Saddler]

We are all well-accustomed to the increasing use of technology to determine exactly what took place during a sporting event. Right from the early days of athletics tournaments, the camera has been used to separate bodies at the finishing line, to within 1/100 of a second, and cricket has seen a significant uptake in the use of video evidence - bat contact on a wicket-keeper's catch, the possible no-ball from the bowler's dragging foot position, the run-out decision, the "grounded" catch ... even to the extent that both sides (in Test matches) are allowed up to 3 reviews, where they can challenge the on-field umpire's decision (and often succeed in getting that decision overturned).

So I thought .... "What if" ..... following our draw at Portsmouth. What if (bearing in mind we were 0-1 ahead at the time) the referee's decision to award a penalty (having already booked 3 of our players) could have been challenged? "Guest" has stated on the match thread that he was very close to the incident, and it was never a penalty. Now that reaction is a perfectly natural one for any Walsall supporter to have, but what if the referee had been challenged at that point? There is an immediate problem in that any such challenge would interrupt the "flow" of the game - by the time the action had been examined from several different angles much of the fast-moving nature of the game would be out of the window. But what if......?

What if such evidence could be meticulously examined after the match, and if there was utterly no doubt, a reversal could be made. The example comes from our game at Portsmouth - I don't know, because I wasn't there, but if the video evidence clearly showed that the referee had missed (for example) the fact that there had been no contact between the Portsmouth player and Gillespie, then perhaps the penalty had been wrongly awarded. I'm honestly not pointing any accusing finger, but some "dives" are terribly convincing when viewed by a chasing official who may be 15 or 20 yards behind the play.......

So, what if?

If that situation was shown to have actually happened, there is the possibility of (a) the penalty being treated as though it had never been awarded, and therefore (b) the match score at that time reverting to 0-1, and probably (c) the final score being changed to 0-1 in view of the fact that no further goals were scored. Furthermore, if there was clear evidence of "no contact", then the offending attacker could be disciplined in line with the public announcements that were made pre-season, assuring the fans that referees were going to crack down on such offences as diving.

Just saying......... :wink:

[Exile]

I'd say it's only a matter of time before it's introduced. Whether that's one season or ten is another story...

[itasaddler]

Already has been implemented in Serie A this season and already proved a success after the first round of matches with most decisions and the overall reaction has been positive. Although one game between Bologna and Torino there were technical glitches and the referee is supposed to wait until play comes to a stop before a review but instead blew for offside meaning it could no longer be reviewed. Had he waited for say a goal to be scored and then reviewed the outcome would have been different, so some degree of human error would still exist.

Personally I think the NFL route is the way to go, they have referees watching every game live outside of the stadium environment, have access to every camera angle within the stadium and communicate with the match officials which will make the decision process quicker without the need to stop the game for too long.

Whatever route they go down it would only be available for the Premier League like goal line technology.

[Kevlar]

Video evidence in tennis and cricket tend to be a matter of fact ( if we all are to trust the video evidence ) .

Penalties, fouls etc are a matter of opinion , as is diving , no matter how blatant it appears .

[chunkster]

There looked to be a camera strapped to the pole at the side of the goal on saturday? there was some guy fiddling with it at half time, probably something to do with filming the game?

[addo]

There looked to be a camera strapped to the pole at the side of the goal on saturday? there was some guy fiddling with it at half time, probably something to do with filming the game?

That will be this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA-nu44 ... e=youtu.be