| As expected, the Premier League gave final approval for the use of goal-line technology and it will act as a guinea pig for Europe's other big leagues, who are not yet convinced. It's adopted the Hawk-Eye system, which claims to be millimetre-accurate when tracking a ball. Its high speed laser-eye cameras, already well-established at the top levels of tennis and cricket, will be installed at all 20 Premier League grounds, as well as Wembley Stadium. From next season a signal will be sent to the referee's watch within a second to indicate whether or not a goal has been scored. The technology debate in football intensified following an incident in the 2010 World Cup, when England's Frank Lampard was denied a perfectly legitimate goal. The current England manager is Roy Hodgson. It's obviously something that people in football have wanted for a long, long time now. There's been a big debate and, for a while, it was pushed back, but it's great now to see that everyone is on the same page and that we've introduced it, so I'm looking forward to that and, at least, it will stop some of those, you know, gross injustices that we've seen in recent years, where goals have obviously been scored and not allowed. The agreement comes after FIFA chose a different company, Goal Control, to supply similar equipment for this year's Confederations Cup in Brazil, a warm-up event for the 2014 World Cup. The doubters worry this is just the tip of the iceberg, that other systems could be introduced to decide offsides, fouls or red cards, and that would further undermine the work of the referees. In addition, there is concern that only the rich leagues can afford to pay for such hi-tech innovations. But, despite those fears, the argument for goal-line technology, in the Premier League at least, has been emphatically endorsed. |
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