Another FIFA own goal

I WAS just settling into my London hotel room, prior to heading to Fulham, when I remembered that the first FA Cup quarter-final was already well into its second half and that I could watch the remainder on television.

So I saw the two Portsmouth goals, the first of which I thought was offside in the build-up. There were no doubts whatsoever about the second one which was brilliantly taken by Piquionne. However, then came the real controversy.

Now it may not have affected the outcome – Birmingham boss Alex McLeish naturally felt otherwise – but there is no question surely that Liam Ridgewell’s header had clearly crossed the line before David James clawed the ball back into play. James is a really bright guy but he was, to say the least, disingenuous afterwards claiming that technology wouldn’t have shown that it should have been a goal.

The referee wasn’t best placed to see but there was no excuse whatsoever for the assistant who was looking straight along the goal-line and through the net. Heavens, wasn’t that a good enough hint? It was only after the game finished that I heard how FIFA’s International Board, meeting in Zurich, had voted against the use of video technology. Their decision means an end to all such experiments and the only concession made was an agreement to reconvene in May to discuss the Michel Platini-inspired deployment of extra goal-line officials in the Europa League, something that generally appears to have gone down like a lead balloon to those involved.

How embarrassing it must have been to the Neanderthals quaffing their post-meeting champagne in Switzerland to hear of the incident at Fratton Park: as clear a case as can be to justify using technology. I hope those representing the North’s Irish Football Association and the Welsh Football Associations who, incredulously, voted to maintain the status quo, are ashamed of themselves. They should be.

FIFA’s General Secretary Jerome Valcke said: “The door is closed. It was a clear, clear statement made by the majority (6 to 2, only the English and the Scots voted in favour) of the IFAB. They are saying why should we have technology in a game where the main influence is human? Let’s keep the game of football as it is.”

Well, in my view, that confirms my opinion of him as a dunderhead, a suitable minion under the aegis of the clown Sepp Blatter.

What is their problem? Is there a fan in the world that didn’t see Thierry Henry handle that ball? And, with respect to the lesser attractions of Portsmouth and Birmingham, there’ll still be many, many millions across the globe that will know City were denied a perfectly legitimate goal on Saturday. The referees themselves want technology.

FIFA’s stance is equivalent to the Wimbledon authorities saying that they’ve had enough of ‘Hawkeye’, that they want to return to the days when officials, whose eyes can’t possibly keep up with the speed of tennis, made mistake after mistake.

You know what I would love to happen? I want the World Cup final in July to be disfigured by controversy that would have been cleared up in seconds by even the most conservative use of technology. Then we can all hold those FIFA buffoons up to the ridicule they deserve.

* Alan Green is chief football commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live