Time to get in line

BBC Sport Online's Martin Roberts believes technology should be introduced to help referees determine when the ball crosses the goal-line.

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Whether you believe England were robbed or got their just desserts in Helsinki, the fact remains that Ray Parlour was unfairly denied the winning goal against Finland.

England's chances of qualifying for the next World Cup could now depend on the split-second misjudgement of a French linesman.

Considering all the media ballyhoo before and during the week of World Cup action, stoked up by controversies over team selection and Kevin Keegan's resignation, it seems more than ironic that a M. Alain Augu should have the largest hand in England's fate.

It seems totally wrong, to fans and players alike, that an unaccountable official can make a major mistake and influence the course of a game when something can be done about it.

Worse error

M. Augu could certainly point to referee Alain Sars' early refusal to send off Finland keeper Antti Niemi for tripping Teddy Sheringham as a far worse error, and it was.

Alan Smith battles Germany U-21s but was unfairly denied a goal

But decisions like that will always be a matter of individual judgement, whereas a ball crossing the line is a cold, hard fact - if it can be worked out.

There is really no sensible reason why the technology cannot be installed to allow referees to check if a goal-bound effort has gone over the line.

The usual argument against is that it would take too long to go to a video official and disrupt the game, but players often end up arguing with referees for minutes on end because his judgement will always be in dispute.

Besides, the speed we see action replays on our TV screens means a decision could be given in less than a minute, or even 30 seconds.

Inconclusive

There will always be the occasional inconclusive result, but mostly it will be clear and certainly give a far better picture of the incident than an official would have.

The naked eye clearly cannot give a good picture of a shot which crashes off the underside of the bar and eight feet down to the ground in a split second.

Victor Ikpeba cannot believe it after his penalty is disallowed in the African Nations Cup

Cricket has introduced video technology, and the general response has been for people to say why on earth did we wait so long when we could have done this before.

Similar technology has recently been introduced in rugby league, while tennis uses a light beam to check whether shots have gone over the line and therefore out.

High technology would not be universally available, of course, but it is the big games which matter most, and too many of those have been affected already, including these examples:

1.Alan Smith's first-half header for England against Germany U-21s last week clearly crossed the line before being hooked away off the crossbar. Germany scored two minutes from time for a 1-1 draw.

2. A whole championship was decided by an official's error in a penalty shoot-out between Nigeria and Cameroon at the African Nations' Cup final after a 2-2 draw. A penalty by Nigeria's Victor Ikpeba crashed off the bar and well over the line but was not given, leaving Liverpool's Rigobert Song to slot the winning kick.

3. Division Two side Chesterfield were denied a clear third goal when they led Middlesbrough 2-0 in the FA Cup semi-final. Boro then went to the other end and won a penalty which helped to a 3-3 draw before they won the replay.

4. Romania's chances at Euro '96 were effectively ended when Dorinel Munteanu's shot which bounced off the crossbar and over the line against Bulgaria was not given. Romania lost the group match 1-0.