Sepp Blatter, Politician At Large!

Sepp Blatter's instant replay sleight of hand, "Now you see it, now you don't!"

In a complete turnaround, Sepp Blatter announced today that, after several horrendous calls by referees in this World Cup (see our Sound Off special, Blind Man’s Bluff: Mayhem with a Whistle), FIFA would reopen the debate over instant replay in football.

After attending the Round of 16 matches between England & Germany and Argentina & Mexico, only to witness two blatantly horrendous officiating blunders, Blatter told the press that, “When you see the evidence of refereeing mistakes” it would be “a nonsense” to ignore possible tools that would improve the situation.

Some of you may be heaving sighs of relief and saying, “It’s about time!”

Don’t hold your breath, though.  The FIFA boss is adamantly opposed to the idea of video technology becoming  a tool for match officials.  In April, I covered the FIFA policy statement given by the Swiss maestro at the annual IFAB conference, four weeks prior.  Suffice it to say that a handful of a) silly and b) less than truthful reasons were given as a basis for outlawing, “forever,” even the discussion of video assistance for beleaguered officials.

This stunning decree came in the wake of the Thierry Henry handball incident.  FIFA, as many speculated, were not interested in supporting the upstart Republic of Ireland’s valid complaint at the expense of an established, revenue and ratings generator like France.  Now, with les Bleus having crashed out of the competition in spectacular fashion, “forever” has apparently been shortened significantly.  Blatter was hoping that fans would have forgotten the side from the Emerald Isle and not be wondering if they might have given a better accounting of themselves.  No such luck with the glaring misapplications of rules, unobserved fouls and various other judicial miscarriages occurring throughout the tournament.

There have been no less than four major controversies in this World Cup, involving goals that were either given or disallowed, all incorrectly.  As the tournament progresses into the deeper rounds, pundits are voicing a very real fear that another mistake will cost a deserving side their place in history.

Not for official use

Referees are human and will make errors.  It is nothing new.  Nor is there some rash outbreak of poor officiating.  Officials are as good at their jobs as they’ve ever been, if not better.  Unfortunately, the tool that could best assist them further, is not only being denied, it is also, in the hands of others, making them look like fools.

While the men in black do not have video technology, their counterparts in the broadcasting booth most definitely do.  Every decision is examined from myriad angles with correct calls being reluctantly accredited and the inevitable howlers shot down and displayed to an audience with a lynch mob mentality.  Cameras can capture images with more clarity than in the past and those images are being packaged and presented to the viewer with ever increasing speed.  In essence, referees are bringing knives to a gunfight.  They don’t stand a chance.

FIFA has been content, so long as human error doesn’t devolve into incompetency, to profit from the furious debate these episodes produce in the media.  Now, at a critical juncture and faced with a mountain of opposition to his philosophy of football ‘purity,’ Blatter has seemingly capitulated.

FIFA's preferred method of conflict resolution

It is best remembered, however that the FIFA presidency is an elected office and its current occupant is a master campaigner.  None of the errors in South Africa have had the impact on a match that Henry’s handball did.  Provided it remains that way, don’t be too shocked when Blatter reverts to form and calls off the shotgun engagement between instant replay and football.