Sage Spencer: June 2010

It is time for goal line technology, whatever that is.

Yes, yes, yes, I am asking for something that I admit I do not understand. Bear with me and you will understand.

Athletics have been a major part of my life but I am much more of a player than a watcher. I certainly would much rather play soccer than watch soccer..by a huge margin. I played soccer/football for twenty years. I stopped playing a couple of years ago. I have also reffed (one of my many jobs growing up) and coached but mostly played. Playing soccer was part of every summer of my life from a very early age. I also trained in the winter when I was playing on rep teams. But I also danced until recently as well and played too many other sports. I think each of dancing and soccer, as different as they were individually, actually made me better at both.

So, this comment comes after watching one excellent German team deserve their win over England today at the World Cup. Germany beat England 4-1, except really they didn’t. The score should have been 4-2. England was refused a goal that the ref did not see bounce, what looked to me to be about a foot anyway, over the German line.

Everyone who has ever been a soccer player or soccer fan understands the tradition of blaming the ref for perceived bad calls. I for one only reffed in particular leagues when I was younger due to the level of animosity that occurs toward refs. Even players hitting on me one minute could become intimidatingly angry at me the next. I am a thin woman. I was a skinny girl. As confident as I tried to be on the field, I was physically intimidating to no one.

As I said I have not been a sports watcher, other than the teams I coached. I have at times watched World Cup games and I am very proud as a woman to now be able to watch women play in the World Cup, which I will do next summer, when it takes place in Germany from June 26 to July 17. 2011. So, perhaps comments from someone who isn’t a sports watcher won’t count to those who regularly are?

But, in the opinion of someone who played for two decades, reffed and coached, I feel, after watching today’s England-Germany game, that it does a disservice to the game of soccer/football internationally, for millions of people to witness on their TVs a clear goal that is then not counted.

I do not know what goal line technology is but I heard it mentioned on TV today as a solution.

If there is technology that would allow a ref to watch an instant replay of a possible goal then it should be adopted by FIFA for future world cups. I would not want to see such technology used to ref entire soccer games, to call offsides etc.. Such a thing would slow down a game whose magic partly comes from its speed. However, tradition should never be used as an excuse for refusing to make needed change. Teams playing in the “World Cup” should not be denied clear goals that the entire “World” has witnessed. That serves only to compromise the integrity of the sport.

We can just leave the screaming at the refs to all other levels of soccer/football games played on planet earth. Goals scored at the World Cup need to be fair to the World.