Yesterday's marvellous news of the Premier League's approval of goal-line technology being confirmed for the start of next season has been too long in coming. Nevertheless, it is finally going to happen and football can at last eliminate the most common inconsistency that plagues the game.
As Roy Hodgson rightly put it, yesterday was indeed a "momentous" day for football. It means no more dodgy linesmen's guesswork getting in the way of title dreams or survival hopes; it also means less stick for the referees in what is arguably football's most frustrating error-prone area. And most importantly, all in a split-second's work. Fantastic.
Now that technology's long-awaited arrival in the beautiful game is imminent; where do we go from here? Do we introduce more of these high-tech measures, or do we leave it be? How much is too much?
For me, I think as far as football is concerned, we can stop here. The main reason that goal-line technology is being implemented in the first place is because of the speedy resolutions it gives to officials if a situation arises; a definitive answer for referees to give to 22 men having a go at them - and finally an end to having to be "100% sure" - which is what the technology guarantees.
As for other in-play scenarios, they are much more complicated to assess. Take, for example, one of those rough but clean tackles that we see in every game without fail. Some players carry on, others wave their arms up pleading for a free-kick (and if you're in Spain, a bit of card-miming, too). The problem with that is, along with so many other potential situations on a football pitch; it's open to interpretation. What one official thinks, another may just as likely disagree.
Imagine this. Every time one of those tackles comes in, thanks to technology it could get reviewed "upstairs" while everyone eagerly waits for a minute and a half just to see if it could be a free kick just behind the halfway line. Nine times out of ten, it would be much ado about nothing - and all because of technology. And that would be the same for offsides, yellow cards, red cards, dives, you name it. It would turn the game into a complete mess.
And let's be honest; we all love a good go at the officials. Who doesn't? Because nothing gets us football nutters going like a little bit of human error. What's more, there is, more often than not, some justification for blaming someone else for your team's shortcomings - I should know - there's a couple of red cards against Barca I'm still not happy about! Would you really want to get rid of that from the game? I certainly wouldn't. Not in a million years.
What do you think? Send me a message on Twitter @StephG_COYR - you'd need some pretty decent arguments, though!
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