Soccer
Blatter: Technology too costly
2010-03-12 09:01
Email | Print
Johannesburg - FIFA president Sepp Blatter has defended their decision to throw out the idea of introducing goal-line technology.
Last week, FIFA - with the support of the Welsh and Northern Irish Football Associations - voted against introducing the goal-line technology when the matter was raised at the meeting of the sport's International Football Association Board (IFAB) last week.
Indeed, FIFA ruled that they would no longer be pursuing the idea of using technology in the game.
Blatter has now revealed the main reasons were cost and the fact it could not be universally rolled out.
"The application of modern technologies can be very costly, and therefore not applicable on a global level," Blatter stated.
"Many matches, even at the highest level, are not even televised. For example, we have close to 900 preliminary matches for the FIFA World Cup, and the same rules need to be applied in all matches of the same competition.
"The rules need to be the same for all association football matches worldwide."
Blatter also said that goal-line technology would have led to other areas being looked at, and that was something they wanted to avoid.
"If the IFAB had approved goal-line technology, what would prevent the approval of technology for other aspects of the game?" Blatter said.
"Every decision in every area of the pitch would soon be questioned.
"No matter which technology is applied, at the end of the day a decision will have to be taken by a human being.
"It is often the case that, even after a slow-motion replay, ten different experts will have ten different opinions on what the decision should have been."
Blatter also believes fans debating decisions is part of the game.
"If play were to be stopped to take a decision, it would break up the rhythm of the game and possibly deny a team the opportunity to score a goal," he said.
"It would also not make sense to stop play every two minutes to review a decision, as this would go against the natural dynamism of the game."
Flash content loading, please wait..