Goal-line technology and VAR are two very different innovations introduced in football with the aim to reduce the inevitable human errors made by the match officials.
These two innovations have changed the way football is today, as we see less and less errors made by the match officials.
Before we proceed further, let’s briefly take a look at the two technologies and how they are used in matches.
Goal-line technology:
The goal-line technology is the older among the two, it was the first solution-based technology that was introduced in football to solve the problem of some referees missing and not awarding goals scored especially in situations where it is impossible for the referee to see.
At first, many sports lovers didn’t see a need for the technology as they felt it would disrupt the flow of the game… but it wasn’t too long when teams lost games or even went out of very important competitions due to the inevitable errors or sometimes purposeful errors made by match officials.
Before the goal-line technology was introduced in football, there were cases where crucial goals were disallowed due to the referee not being sure about the situation. One of the famous disallowed goals was the Frank Lampard goal vs Germany which clearly crossed the line. We had a series of similar cases in different leagues most especially the premier league were teams like Chelsea, Tottenham, were victims of a disallowed goal.
After the technology was introduced, the error of wrongly disallowed goals was solved because the technology is probably over 95% accurate.
Even though that error-prone situation in football was presumably solved, other errors and match costing situations took over and became an issue in the game, and that led to the introduction of the VAR which I will be discussing next…
The VAR technology
The VAR was introduced not long ago in football to curb or reduce the error margin was referees are not sure about the incidence or situation in the game. The VAR was mainly introduced to reduce (because it is still not as accurate as the goal-line technology) cases of illegal actions in the penalty area that causes or stops a goal, clear fouls situations in the penalty area, penalty decisions, clear red card situations, issues of mistaken identity made by referees and a few other in game situations.
Before the VAR, there were issues like match officials not spotting situations like illegal handball in the penalty box, or clear fouls either in the penalty box which could deprive the affected team a goal or even cost them the match. There were a series of situations where some players took advantage of the human errors to illegally score clear handball goals or purposefully handling the ball in the penalty box to stop a goal scoring opportunity.
All these became a problem in football and even though some groups or persons were against the idea to introduced a video assistant into the game, a lot of persons are now seeing the need especially if your team is in the receiving end of the costly errors.
Although this innovation is useful in the game, it still has its flaws as there’s still atom of mistakes because the team consists of humans and not machines.
How does the goal-line and VAR technologies work?
For the goal-line technology, there are basically two different methods used. High-speed cameras are placed in their correct position to mathematically analyze the position of the ball in 3D space so as to determine if the ball has crossed the line and then send a signal through radio waves to the receiver watch worn by the match referees.
The second method used which is probably less expensive is having electromagnetic circuits inside the ball and also sensors in the goal frame to detects if the ball has crossed the line or not before sending a signal to the receiver watch of the referee.
For VAR, it works by having video experts in a special room with multiple monitors showing various angles of the situation. If the in-game need arises to use the VAR, then the referee will make a sign to use the VAR for assistance. After a series of careful analysis by the VAR team, the referee will be alerted on the decision to make.
So which technology innovation is the better innovation among the two? and which one is more important in football?
My Opinion
For me, I feel the goal-line technology is the better innovation introduced in football, here are a few of my reasons;
Error Margin:
Every process of the goal-line technology is controlled by computers and is automated, this means that human errors are completely eliminated. The chances of computers making mistakes are rare and can only happen in cases of malfunction. Compared to VAR which still has cases of poor judgment.
Speed:
The goal-line technology is super-fast in its calculations and can determine if the ball has crossed the line and send the signal of the outcome to the referee in a matter of seconds. Unlike the VAR which takes several minutes to analyze the situation.
The flow of the game:
The flow of the match is hardly disrupted during goal-line technology situations because of the speed in which it determines the ball position and alerts the referee.
When it comes to which innovation is more important, I feel the goal-line technology is more important because VAR will only be needed if the referee is out of position or not in the correct position. But for goal-line situations, there are cases where it is nearly impossible for the referee to give the correct judgement because of the speed in which the incidence happens even when the referee is in the correct position.
Finally, it is more painful to watch your team lose a match or get knocked out of an important competition due to goal-line errors. So, I feel the goal-line technology is an innovation that football currently cannot do without
And that is a wrap…
Who do you think... Which innovation do you think is better and which one do you feel is the most important in football?
I would love to read your own opinions… Enjoy your day.
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