Disadvantages of Goal Line Technology

            Goal line technology not only gives advantages in football, but also gives disadvantages of using goal line technology in football. There are some disadvantages of using goal line technology in football.

            First, it will ruin the heart and soul of the game. Surely fairness and less controversy are more important than that and get higher priority. It is like a favor in the match. It would ruin the heart and soul though.

Second, the fact is that the technology is not 100% accurate and it requires a lot of calibrating in order to make sure that it is most reliable before the match begins. Even then, there is still room for error.

Third, the new technology may slow down the pace of the game. Officials may spend long periods of time deliberating over a decision and analyzing the data given from the technology.

Fourth, it may even affect goal-keeping psychology that can be affected with the pressure of the technology, which can hurdle their performance in the game.

Others disadvantages of technology are:

·         The signals from the ball may be time consuming as well to verify that the ball in fact crossed the goal

·         There will still be the argument that technology is not completely reliable all of the time

·         Some older fans are more reluctant to trust technology at all in making those kind of major decisions

·         If something goes wrong with the technology before its perfected then there may be the chance that the major executives will not allow the technology to be perfected for a long time or potentially indefinitely

·         It may undermine the authority of the referees.

The President of FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations) argues that it would remove the nature of human judgment in a negative way. Also FIFA has raised a number of other issues about goal line technology, saying “the system is not accurate enough, is too expensive and would affect the universality of the game, in that World Cup matches would not have the same rules as a Sunday League game in Bradford” (Emery, 2010).

The Hawk-Eye system has been critiqued and the main claim that people are making is that the margin of error is too large for it to be accurate and also that it would slow the game down too much. It is believed then that if this occurred then it would have a negative effect on the sport of soccer in itself. However, as is stated in the official letter to Mr. Sepp Blatter, this does not appear to be the case. The letter states that “within 0.5 seconds of the ball crossing the line the referee would be alerted.” (Hawkins, 2009).