March 8 – Former World Cup referee Pierluigi Collina has lent his support to the introduction of video technology trials to assist officials, saying it will end years of frustration.
The decision to allow a two-year experiment was announced on Saturday by soccer’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), while the laws of the game were extensively rewritten for the first time for over a century.
Collina, who was conspicuous by his bald head and piercing blue eyes and was arguably the most respected referee of his time, is currently UEFA’s head of refereeing.
Banned UEFA president Michel Platini may be against technology but Collina welcomes the innovation.
“Being a referee and being assessed, not based on what we can see but by TV camera images, leaves many referees frustrated,” the Italian told Reuters.
“Half of the football community cannot understand that a mistake committed by the referee is only committed because he is a human being and cannot see every incident. So the use of video assistance will help the referee enormously. I am not sceptical about this.
“The referee on the field tries to do his best but he has not been assessed on what he can see, but what the television shows. Just think how difficult it is to correctly assess an offside incident sometimes, for example. In the past that has been frustrating for the referee but now we can see if some of this technology can help the referee and that is very positive.”
Another law change is that in future a player who has been injured by a bad challenge does not have to leave the field after treatment and wait to be waved back on by the referee.
“It restores fair play and means that the team victimised is not playing 10 against 11 for a while,” said Collina.
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