Date:09/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/09/stories/2008030959101800.htm

Sport - Football

FIFA favours manpower over technology

GLENEAGLES: Football’s lawmakers agreed on Saturday to halt all experiments with technology, putting faith in extra manpower instead.

FIFA’s International Board favoured a conservative plan to experiment with the addition of two more referees’ assistants, rather than the using cameras to rule on disputed goals.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said there were fears that the advance of goal-line technology would lead to it being more extensively applied.

“We have decided to freeze for the time being the goal-line technology and all technology experiments,” Valcke said. “We will look on these two additional referees and we avoid considering any goal-line technology during this time.”

The technology was opposed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the Welsh Football Association.

“It’s a game played by human beings, a game with a human face,” WFA secretary general David Collins said. “There is a feeling it would hinder the flow of the game.”

UEFA president Michel Platini has also supported having more officials. — AP