Goal-line technology: a disaster waiting to happen

The Premier League recently announced that goal-line technology will be introduced in time for next season. Action came swiftly after FIFA president Sepp Blatter finally reversed his steadfast opposition to technology in football.

Disbelief | Frank Lampard holds his hands aloft in protest as his shot crosses the line against Germany, but no goal is given in South Africa. (Image | The Guardian)

He said that FIFA would appear to be “foolish” if it did not act on a series of embarrassing mistakes, such as the failure to award a goal to England midfielder Frank Lampard during a game against Germany at the 2010 World Cup.

Racism: an inconvenience, but not a concern in Eastern Europe

Monday night’s Panorama unearthed some shocking truths about racism in football in Poland and Ukraine – which were flatly denied by local police chiefs (Image | still from Panorama)

Anyone who watched BBC’s Panorama programme on Monday night will now know for certain what we all already believed. The powers at the fulcrum of European football are fundamentally uninterested in tackling the difficult problem of stamping out racism in Eastern European football.

I will make no attempt whatsoever to pretend that there is no racism in English – or Western European – football in 2012. The deluded Geordie who tweeted that there were too many black players in the Newcastle United squad following the signing of Papiss Cisse in January pays a sorry tribute to that. But, mercifully, we are at least 20 years beyond the scenes aired in Panorama on Monday.