世界杯误判不断，电子技术娱乐应用呼之欲出

Comment: Soccer crosses the line, must now adopt tech

by Peter Clarke

On Sunday England fell to its worst-ever defeat in a World Cup finals soccer tournament, beaten 4-1 by Germany. This has given rise to widespread gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in England.

However, after congratulating Germany on a well-executed victory, it is worth pointing out that England is not the only team that has failed to cover itself in glory at the South African World Cup. FIFA, the global organizers of soccer and of the World Cup tournament, has also got something to be distraught about.

It's refusal to allow electronic technology to be used to help referees has LED to the laughable situation that the score line in the Germany-England game does not reflect what happened. England had a second legitimate goal disallowed. It was obvious to almost the entire football stadium and a television audience of tens, if not 100s of millions that Frank Lampard's shot, having hit the crossbar, bounced down a couple of feet behind the line, before spin on the ball brought it out of the goal and back into the playing area.

England were outplayed throughout most of the game so it is unlikely that if the officials had called that goal correctly it would have made any difference to which team would win the game. But it would have allowed England to level the score at two goals each," so you never know. And people did not pay their money to travel around the world to see a contest in which legitimate goals were scrubbed due to the inadequacies of human referees. So besides English pride, the audience, the referees and soccer itself were the losers.

People call it the beautiful game and there is a symmetry about the fact that in 1966 there was another "did-the-ball cross-the-line" incident in a soccer match between England and Germany. On that occasion the decision went in England's favor. In an evenly-fought contest the psychological blow to Germany was considerable and, as Germany chased the game, England was able to catch them on the break and win the match 4-2 and with it the Jules Rimet trophy.

In 1966 there was no wireless communications between officials and the sidelines, only grainy television coverage and no instant replays, so it was understandable and appropriate that that referee and linesmen should be left to make decisions on their own, as best they could.

Come on Andy

But 44 years later, in an age when there are multiple electronic aids, from RF triangulation to the inclusion of GPS chips, gyroscopes and accelerometers embedded in the surface of the ball, it is surely wrong to leave referees exposed to ridicule. If such an injustice happened" and it may yet" to one of two more-evenly matched teams in the final, soccer as well as the aggrieved team would be the losers.

There is an argument that because soccer is played by millions of amateurs it is somehow unfair to add video evidence or a technology support that is not available to all to international or professional soccer. It doesn't wash.

Professional cricket and tennis have added the "Hawk-Eye" technology that uses multiple cameras to track the ball and build up a record of its path through three-dimensional space. In tennis it has now been built into the professional game at leading tournaments for use determining whether a shot was in or out. In the interests of time most calls are made by human line judges but the players can make up to three unsuccessful challenges per set.

Video evidence is now called for routinely in the game of Rugby Union during international matches. Soccer must now adopt the available technology.

The Hawk-Eye system was developed by engineers at Roke Manor Research Ltd. (Romsey, England), part of Siemens' R&D network, in 2001. The technology was later spun off into a separate company Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd. (Winchester, England). Such a technology could be used in soccer generally to support out-of-play calls or something camera-based, or even laser-based could be set up specifically to adjudicate on goal-mouth incidents.

Meanwhile, this week having lost some of my appetite for soccer, I will be watching Wimbledon, and cheering for the two remaining Brits in that tennis championship" Andy Murray and Hawk-Eye. Except that Hawk-Eye was developed at a part of Siemens so, in a sense, Germany wins again.