PRETORIA, South Africa (AP)—After a FIFA U-turn Tuesday morning, at
least one
World Cup referee is ready to embrace goal-line technology.
English referee Howard Webb, who officiated last month’s Champions
League
final, said he would be open to technological aids if they help referees
get the
calls right.
“I’m open minded about anything that makes us more credible as match
officials,” Webb said at the latest World Cup referees’ open day.
“Whatever
tools I am given I will use them to the best of my ability, and I will
use all
the experience I have to try to come to the correct decisions.”
Although FIFA president Sepp Blatter said in March that he does not
want
non-human intervention in football, he apologized to both England and
Mexico on
Tuesday for refereeing blunders that worked against both teams.
He also announced that there would be a special meeting of the game’s
rule-making body next month.
“I will just watch this space with interest and see where it goes,”
Webb
said. “We’ll see what comes along.”
Jose-Maria Garcia-Aranda, FIFA’s head of refereeing, wouldn’t be
drawn into
the debate, leaving the decision to The International Football
Association
Board.
“My duty and responsibility is not to talk or discuss about the use
of
technology,” Garcia-Aranda said. “My duty and responsibility—and the
referees’ responsibility—is to perform as well as possible … we are
working
here to improve the referees’ performances.”
England was denied a goal against Germany on Sunday when Frank
Lampard’s
shot bounced off the crossbar and over the goal line. If the goal had
been given
by Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda, England would have equalized at
2-2 in the
38th minute. Germany won the match 4-1.
Later that day, Argentina’s first goal in a 3-1 win over Mexico was
scored
by Carlos Tevez from an offside position but was still allowed by
Italian
referee Roberto Rosetti.
Rosetti and Larrionda skipped the referees’ open day because “they
made a
personal decision not to be here,” Garcia-Aranda said.
The IFAB has previously considered two options to help referees and
linesmen
— a ball with a microchip and the camera-based Hawk-Eye replay system
used in
tennis—and rejected them on principle, not because of any faults in
their
systems.
“I’ve got no personal view,” Webb said. “I can’t do anything about it
because I’m not part of the decision-making process. I have to abide by
whatever
tool is given to me.
“I’m a strong believer that football in its current form is a
wonderful
spectacle, a really beautiful game.”
Tennis, cricket and baseball are among the sports that use video
replays to
help officials get decisions right.
“We try to learn good practice from them,” Webb said. “But we have to
consider that we are dealing in different sports. Football is uniquely
fluid in
the way that it is played, and we need to take care that we don’t change
that
fact. We need to protect the basic way the game is played.”
FIFA has made psychologists available to referees at the World Cup to
help
them deal with the strain, and unwelcome media attention, from any
disputed
decisions.
“We have two psychologists who are at the disposition of the referees
so
they are always available,” said FIFA’s Werner Helsen, who helps to
prepare
referees for matches. “On the other hand, it is really important for the
competence of referees to deal with errors.
“They wouldn’t arrive at the World Cup if they didn’t know how to
deal with
mistakes in the right way. My definition of experience is the capacity
to learn
from mistakes.”
Helsen has been helping Larrionda deal with having missed Lampard’s
goal.
“Unfortunately it happens,” Helsen said. “He is OK. He is not here,
but
he learns to deal with it and will continue (at the World Cup).”