Posted by Stuart Grimshaw | Posted in tech | Posted on 20-07-2009
Whenever you ask someone about technology in football, the first thing someone mentions is goal line technology, so lets get it out of the way with a short series on the subject, and then we can get on with the real gadgets.
Controversial incidents are nothing new in football, and they usually involve England one way or another. They’re certainly involved in the 2 most famous incidents, the 1966 World Cup Final is probably best known for Geoff Hurst’s 3rd goal and in 1986 England were knocked out of the world cup by Argentina after Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal (But then he went and did this …)
However, it took until 1998 until FIFA asked the English FA to begin experiments with goal line technology to aid the referee which led to a statement from the League referee’s chief Philip Don which outlined his plan for a “force field of some kind” which would detect the ball crossing the line.
The subject was also discussed by FIFA in 1999, where they considered goal line technology, a 2nd referee and extending the duties of the 4th referee. 10 years later and we’re still in exactly the same position.
In 2003 Adidas started to develop their own intelligent ball, in conjunction with Cairos which involves burying wires in the pitch which generate a magnetic field of differing strengths. Using a sensor in the ball, computers can work out where the ball is and decide if it has crossed the line or not.
This system was successfully trailed in the 2007 World Club Cup in japan, and a seperate system was used in some matches during the 2008 Under 17 European Championship.
However, all plans for goal line technology were abandoned in March 2008 when Fifa voted to end all trials and replace them with another 2 humans to make mistakes behind each goal. Fifa and UEFA plan to use this system during the 2009/10 Europa League.
what is the technolgy behind “goal line technology?
aha Devasia! You’ll have to read the rest of the series to find that out …
Part 2 is already published and explains the current situation, Part 3 will be published later this week and takes a look at the 2 technologies competing to be used.
[...] the previous 2 parts of this short series we looked at the history of goal line technology and the current stalemate, in this final part I take a look at the future, and what technology is [...]