Michel Platini has suggested the money for goal line technology would be better used on grass roots football. Here is why he’s wrong.
For some reason UEFA President Michel Platini has always been against the use of goal line technology in football. He has said he would vote against it and he has come out with fresh comments designed to take support away from something which will drastically improve the game.
The first area where Platini is flawed is in his suggestion that the technology does not warrant the money for only one or two contentious decisions each season. There is massive focus placed on only one or two incidents each season but the actual number of contentious decisions may actually be significantly higher.
The second area where he is flawed, with his comments on the Guardian website, is over the whole pricing issue. Goal line technology would cost around £10 million per year for any of the top European leagues to maintain. With sponsorship deals and TV broadcasting deals generating higher amounts than ever before, that amount could be paid for by the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and many more alone.
He’s also choosing to ignore the fact that many pundits in England have been encouraging debate over whether the English game should break away and just use the technology without permission from UEFA. Therefore, if the Premier League was asked to pay the bill or clubs in turn were asked to contribute, it’s very likely they would do so.
He’s obviously made the comments in relation to what could be considered ‘the greater good of football’. There is little doubt that grass roots football needs sustained investment to ensure that youngsters have the best coaching and facilities possible from a young age.
Where that links into the goal line technology debate however is a complete mystery. Therefore, you can only assume that Platini means football would be become a better sport if the cash was invested into the grass roots, which is wrong. It would be a better sport if basic decisions fundamental to a game such as a goal are made correctly.
It’s never been more important for football to push on with the issue of goal line technology because the stakes of what many teams are playing for have never been higher. The matter should have been resolved when Frank Lampard’s shot went two yards over the line during a World Cup game with Germany but yet, here we still are.
Why Platini in particular seems so against the introduction of technology is a mystery because it is being well used in a number of other sports all over the world generating more accurate results and conclusions as a result
image: © Brett Jordan
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