World Cup 2010: FIFA President Blatter expresses his apology over officiating

England will take some comfort from the fact that an apology was made by Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president over the disallowed goal scored by Frank Lampard. The FIFA President made this apology saying that this serious error has convinced him to rethink on making use of technology at the goal-line going forward and said that he would take it up at the board meeting to be held in the month of July. The Football Association received this apology. Despite his stinging shot clearly crossing the goal line, Frank Lampard was denied this goal and England ultimately lost to Germany 4-1. Blatter also had to apologise to Mexico due to another error from the referee in allowing a clear offside goal from Carlos Tevez of Argentina. Here again Mexico lost to Argentina 3-1. The two men who were involved in these errors have however been retained to conduct proceedings for the rest of the tournament. They were referee Jorge Larrionda from Uruguayan and referee Roberto Rosetti from Italy. If the strike from Lampard had been allowed, then the score at that stage would have read 2-2 and would have boosted England’s morale substantially. This serious error on the part of the referee has led to a strident demand from FifPro, the international player union to introduce technology at the goal-line so that the referee can have the benefit of this technology to make the right decision. Blatter has indicated that this point will be seriously taken up at the IFAB board meeting next month. IFAB stands for the International FA Board and is responsible for deciding upon the manner in which the game should be played and the laws that should govern it. Blatter admitted that it was high time that the file on this provision of technology at the goal-line was revisited and referred to the disturbing experiences at the current World Cup as enough reasons to do so.

Frank Lampard's goal

The off-side Tevez goal which contributed to Argentina’s win over Mexico was shown on the stadium screens a number of times and that resulted in the Mexican players as well as the officials and coaches getting into clashes. Blatter went on to add that though he is aghast and surprised at such mistakes made by the referees, he feels that these things do happen in sport and the tournament as well as the game of football must carry on. He has also expressed his apologies to both the football federations of England as well as Mexico and conveyed his empathies to them at the turn of events. He reiterated that this issue about technology being made available for goal-line calls will surely be taken up at the business meeting in the month of July. This commitment from Blatter comes within four months of Jerome Valcke – the Fifa general secretary saying that they had decided against the inclusion of goal-line technology through any video replays on the basis of the issue having been put to vote at the IFAB meeting. That decision was arrived at after watching elaborate presentations delivered by Cairos as well as Hawk-Eye – the two state of art technology systems being used in tennis as well as cricket. Blatter was also of the opinion that though such errors were not acceptable, the game of football had to go on and live with such human errors.

He further added that there could not be different rules for this game in different parts of the world and it was the simplicity and universal appeal of this game that made it so popular. Since the ultimate decision had to be taken by a human being even after using technology, he felt that it was the referee on the field who should take the decision for good or for bad. The Fifa President was enjoying the match and was part of the crowd at the Free State Stadium even as Jorge Larrionda, the referee along with his assistant Mauricio Espinosa could not see that the shot of Lampard had cleared the goal-line by a fair distance and disallowed a legitimate goal. However, the German media feels that it is atonement for the goal that was allowed to Geoff Hurst in the 1966 tournament final and feels that even then, it was not clear whether the ball had crossed the goal-line and yet the goal was allowed. Blatter of course feels that a similar incident should not have taken place 44 years later and added that when he apologized to both the affected teams, the English were philosophical about it, saying that it happens in the game and the Mexicans too took it in their stride and were pretty magnanimous about it. Brian Barwick however had a different take on this saying that the stakes were just too high for Fifa to go on continuing with practices that are no longer relevant and should adopt technologies already in use in both tennis and cricket. He was talking to BBC Sport and was wondering how the game would have gone on if there was such a game played in the last 16 and England was 2-1 down. He felt that it was a clear goal and if the referee could not see it, then there was no harm in taking the help of technology that is available.

He went on to add that after the replay of that moment, everybody in the world knew that England had scored legitimately and it was a pity that four men did not quite see it that way. The judgment error was just too serious, he said. Howard Webb, who was one of the referees in the Champions League final last month and is also a World Cup referee fully supports the use of technology since it would help referee take the right call. He clarified that he had an open mind on anything that helps referees perform well and without errors. He also said that he would be using his immense experience and the right tools to take decisions and feels that just because technology is used, his position would not get undermined. He added saying that in England, they already work and learn from officials of other sports like rugby league, cricket and try to imbibe the good practices that they are following taking care to see that the fluid nature of football is not compromised

Blatter however confirmed that the IFAB would only revisit the issue of technology at the goal-line and would not be taking up the issue of any help for assistant referees, while referring to the offside goal of Tevez from Argentina.

He said that the fast paced nature of the game should not be compromised by giving teams a chance to look at replays ever so often and felt that the Mexico game certainly did not merit any interference from technology. Blatter has also indicated that Fifa would be initiating a movement to ensure that better refereeing standards are followed and would bring in a model by the month of November in this regard. He said that they would also discuss how better control can be exercised over the match by the referees and said that though he would not like to divulge everything, there was a definite need for change.