Petition Tag - goal line technology

Since becoming FIFA President in June 1998, Sepp Blatter has committed innumerable crimes against the sport of football, blatantly disrespecting the game, its players, its supporters, and its officials.

Blatter has been involved in several scandals:

1. Allegations of corruption and financial irregularities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA#Allegations_of_financial_irregularities)

2. Blatant sexism towards female footballers in 2004 when he suggested that women should "wear tighter shorts and low cut shirts... to create a more female aesthetic" and attract more male fans

3. Refusal to implement modern goal-line technology to take pressure off referees and ensure fair play

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Call it flogging a dead horse, but the second pair of knockout matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup have made the need for goal-line technology even more pressing.

There's been plenty of talk this year of play-acting and diving bandied about as the usual (and justified) criticisms of the world game, but two moments in games of huge importance have revealed to the world what it already knew: referees need a lot more help than they're getting.

Not one person can deny Frank Lampard's goal should have levelled the scores between England and Germany.

Trailing at 2-1, having been outplayed for most of the first half, Lampard contrived to equalise for his country with a shot off the cross bar that cannoned back from behind the line, before the referee inexplicably ruled no-goal.

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has admitted he conned Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda into ruling out Frank Lampard’s ghost goal.

The Schalke No 1 claimed the ball was around two metres over the line while German legend and former coach Jurgen Klinsmann branded the referee’s blunder a ‘disgrace’.

Neuer said: ‘I tried not to react to the referee and just concentrate on what was happening. I realised it was over the line and I think the way I carried on so quickly fooled the referee into thinking it was not over.'

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In recent times, many ludicrous events have ocurred over whether the ball crossed the line.

Just to name two examples, when Manchester Utd were denied a late defeat to their rivals when Roy Carrol scooped a ball out yards inside his line due to the blindness of the assistant referee, or when the already controversial Carlos Tevez scored a 'goal' against Blakcburn, helping West Ham to a vital victory.

Looking even further back, another example is in the '66 final, when the goal was given which a Brit would say was a goal, and a German wouldn't. the technology really would have stopped that debate. Wimbledon made a bold leap forwards, introducing hawkeye, and it was a great success (unless you're Roger Federer)- why cant football do the same?

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