Tom Dunmore continues his look at the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in the wake off its rejecting looking into goal-line technology. Theeight-member IFAB includes one representative each from the soccer federations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It takes six votes for a rule to be changed. Effectively, that givesthe United Kingdom (a single nation, if not for FIFA purposes) a veto over all changes to the rules of the game.
Asfor the IFAB’s rejecting technology, it is stuck in the past. Regardless of the merits of the technology, ruling out even experimentation with goal-line technology is just pig-headed, writes Dunmore,noting that pretty much every article outside of FIFA.com’s in-house sycophancy comes down hard on the IFAB. Arsene Wenger said it was “beyond comprehension” and thehead of the Italian FA asked why experimentation itself had been ruled out.
Despite their claims to have taken “careful deliberation” over it, the IFAB left mostonly baffled by its defense. Welsh member Jonathan Ford said “The big moments in this sport – whatever they are – get supporters talking and go down in history.That’s what makes this sport so vibrant.” The Irish FA’s Patrick Nelson said: “We were all agreed that technology shouldn’t enter football because we wantfootball to remain human, which is what makes it great,” going on bizarrely to reference one of the worst refereeing mistakes of all-time in the 1966 World Cup final. “The fans keeptalking about these matches again and again, and relive them.”