FIFA and Technology

As I watched the President of FIFA reacting to the uproar about bad decisions by referee's I was struck by how typical the response was for a bigwig in a position of control in any big organization - from Government Agencies, to Oil Companies, to Banks to Sports organizations.

FIFA has jumped on every new technology when it comes to promoting the World Cup and making more money. The constant barrage of advertising from FIFA licensed companies pushing apps for your phone, websites or other new technology businesses is inescapable. So evidently new technology is great when it comes to making money, it just more trouble than it is worth when the only benefit is the integrity of the game.

FIFA, AIG, Lehman Brothers, BP. They are all the same. Don't bother me with details, I'm to busy making money.

Logically you don't have to think about it much to see FIFA's position is a wrong decision on so many levels. Far from taking the game out of the hands of referee's, it would be giving them a tool to protect them (and their families) from harassment from irate fans. Using technology can further protect the game from the possibility of gamblers influencing the outcome. And most importantly for fans and players, the outcome of the game wouldn't hang so regularly on a referee's bad decision.

Why have there have been so many really bad game changing decisions? These are supposed to be the best of the best referee's but it seems like really bad goal mouth decisions occur more frequently than in any league I have ever followed. These aren't judgment call decisions, these are basic factual decisions. Players obviously offside or obviously not offside. Did the ball cross the goal line. Why aren't the referee's (assuming they truly care about making the right decisions) lobbying for technology to help them with their job. Could it be we have the Peter Principal at work - the most important criteria for being a top referee isn't competence - it's ambition and willingness to toe the FIFA line and tolerate abuse?

I note that when a referee makes a bad decision that brings a lot of bad publicity FIFA typically defends the decision then quietly sends the Referee home. They punish the ref, but deny the underlying problem. It's not working FIFA, get your eyes up off the bottom line and fix the game.