Thu 30 Mar 06
You can Dive, but can you Hide?
The FA is asking FIFA to pass a rule allowing divers to be punished retrospectively.
Ordinarily I am loathe to make officiating reliant upon video replays, after seeing how it has made NFL football even more tedious. Football thrives on fast pace and steady flow of play. Last season we witnessed Spurs’ remarkable “non-goal” against Roy Carroll. The introduction of ball chip technology will prevent further daft blind spots on the part of the officials. In this case the use of video evidence is a reasonable measure: the speed of the game is preserved while the sport cracks down on unacceptable behaviour by players.
As they say in Britain, “Something must be done.”
Paul Canniff
