The FA is within touching distance of football paradise, but refuses to pop the question, tie the knot and live happily ever after. I wonder why.

As things stand at this moment, every television viewer in the land knows everything that happens on the field of play, often beyond dispute, always immediately, and usually with the benefit of instant replays, slomos, pauses and expert analysis. The referee, on the other hand, often knows nothing about incidents that may or may not be significant, and has no means of amassing the imformation required to make a judgement, even though that information is available to millions of couch-potatoes all over the world, every time anything of significance happens.

The result is doubly appalling. First, the results of important games are regularly rendered incorrect because of incorrect decisions. Second, players know that the referee is seldom, if ever, fully informed as to what is going on. Hence the proliferation of foul play, cheating and diving. The players know that, under present conditions, the chances of getting away with misdemeanours are extremely good.

Meanwhile, thanks to rugby, cricket and tennis, it has become glaringly obvious that the technology exists that is capable of  eliminating diving, cheating and foul play, and of ensuring results which reflect the merits of the teams involved, without in any way disrupting the pace of the game. The pace of the game, under present conditions,  manages to survive the disruptions caused by injuries (some genuine, some feigned) and substitutions, so there is no reason to think  that referral to  a TV referee would cause unacceptable hold-ups.

Think about it. If players know that their antics are being monitored accurately and comprehensively and in a fashion that can be used as evidence in subsequent inquiries, the game can say a delighted “Good Riddance!” to almost all foul play, cheating and diving – just like that. The Golden Age  of the “Beautiful Game” could return, there is no doubt about that.

Here’s another plus, of a rather murkier colour. At present, referee-errors are accepted throughout the game as inevitable – everybody knows that most of the time the referee is well placed to make a mistake and badly placed to read the situation correctly. Everybody also knows that most of the time the assistance available to him is inadequate.

 Take that one step further – the referees themselves know that they are expected to make mistakes, and that the whole world considers that that situation is just another fact of life. What do people say about a result that is horribly wrong because of a referee error? “These things even themselves out over the course of a season.” That is how casually the phenomenon is accepted.

 So, what is going to happen when a credit-crunched referee, a home-owner with negative equity hanging round his neck like a millstone, is offered a hefty sum of money to make a couple of extra mistakes in order to enrich an Oriental betting syndicate?

Don’t answer that question. Let us just  accept that life would be better for the referees as well as for players, fans, clubs – for everybody (except crooks), if the FA embraced the available technology.

Am I missing something? Is it possible that the footballing authorities have a vested interest in keeping things as they are? Surely not…. and yet…. it does make one wonder.

We at Donec are scratching our heads – how about you?