Last week it was announced that the Premier League will be adopting goal-line technology through Hawkeye, using the same system that tennis has championed for years. If
you were standing outside, you could almost feel the gale of wind from thousands of British football fans sighing with relief. British football teams, England especially, have always felt like they get the mucky end of the stick when it comes to sport on the international scene. There was the blatant Thierry Henry hand ball against Ireland in 2009, Frank Lampard’s goal-that-wasn’t-a-goal in the 2010 World Cup, and many other misfortunes and oversights besides.
Then something bad happened. Something Sepp Blatter could not forgive. A perfectly good goal against England was disallowed in Euro 2012. Things had to change.
Still, it’s good news all the same. Now that the men who run world football have pulled their fingers out of their ears – no doubt stirring a cloud of dust in the process – football fans can finally feel that they have got their money’s worth. After all, football tickets for sale are certainly not cheap. Watching your local team (or if you are a Manchester United fan, making the commute from Surrey) is no longer a fun, affordable day out with the family. Now it’s matchday programmes, travel, food, souvenirs, and that’s before you’ve remortgaged your house for the football tickets themselves. If the price of football is going to balloon at the same rate as Mancini’s male grooming bill, we, the fans, deserve to know that a goal is a bloody goal, and there’s not a thing you can do about it.
It might make pub politics less interesting though.







