Technology’s influence on Football

Football. A sport that unites people all over the world, irrespective of their nationalities, race, gender and any other distinctions. It is a unique sport with an unparalleled universal following, unlike any sport. This massive global appeal, coupled with its never-ending growth, has led to the commercialisation of the sport. Significant investment from companies and investors with no background in sports signifies this. As a result, the importance of success on the pitch has risen plentiful.

Football is not only a game of tactics but also a game of emotions. The plethora of emotions generated when a team scores, the feeling when the goalkeeper pulls off a brilliant save or of winning a game, can never be substituted. With the margins of winning and losing becoming ever so small, combined with the importance of winning, the game has been forced to adapt. Mostly for good but also the bad.

Pure emotion: Spanish football fans watch the Spanish national team at Euro 2012

Technology has improved football in multiple aspects such as increasing the viewership of the game. It was also brought in to assist the referees in making correct decisions during the game. It was something that was introduced to improve the accuracy of the decisions and to get fairer results. Several pundits had been initially sceptical when technology was first introduced but have now grown accustomed to it.

At first Goal-line technology was introduced in the game to help the referees to see whether the ball has crossed the line and whether it is a goal or not.

Why was it introduced? Here’s a possible reason. The ball clearly crossed the line but the goal was not given. This happened during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in a match between Germany and England.

Goal-Line technology was a huge success and fans started appreciating the importance of technology and the benefits it brought to the game and its results. An instance of goal-line technology showing its usefulness was during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool on 3 January 2019 at Etihad Stadium.

Man City defender John Stones cleared the ball off the line with millimetres to spare. City won that game 2–1 and went on to win the league, finishing one point above Liverpool. If goal-line technology didn’t exist, Liverpool might have won the league for the first time in their club’s history. It was a decision which would have been impossible to make in real-time.

After Goal Line Technology, Video Assistant referee or VAR came into the picture. Its inclusion and contribution during the FIFA World Cup 2018 stood out. The technology was successful in helping officials make the right calls during the game. One of the most progressive football leagues in Europe, the Bundesliga( the top division of German club football), has used VAR as well since 2017–18 season. For the first time, as part of the 2019–20 season, it has been introduced to the English Premier League (the top division of football of England). It has faced flack from the players and fans alike because of its inconsistent decision making. The incident which comes to mind the quickest is the Roberto Firmino offside call.

Here take a look at it yourself.

The player in the white shirt is Firmino, who was adjudged to be in an offside position which means some part of his body was found to be marginally ahead of the last defender’s body. Post-match the officials clarified it was Firmino’s armpit.

VAR was meant for assisting officials. The on-field referees should always have the final say, but in England, VAR seems to be making the final decision. This should never have been the case. The rules of VAR are confusing as well. Rules like the one for offside and handball need to be amended in ways that VAR is part of the process. It is impractical to operate VAR without it being a part of the rules of the game.

Football purists opine that VAR is removing the element of pure, raw emotion from the game. However, in my opinion, football in the modern era is not just about two sides playing against each other. It has several stakeholders and emotion cannot be allowed to impact the final result, irrespective of how thrilling it might be.

Technology will become better over time and also help the game improve along with it. As fans, we must be patient. There will be incorrect decisions made in the short run. However, we need to understand that both technology and football are here to stay and for the greater good.