‘Hawk-Eye would end goal confusion’

THE inventor of Hawk-Eye has said referee Jorge Larrionda would have known within half a second that Frank Lampard’s shot had crossed the line during England’s defeat by Germany had the system been in place at the World Cup.

Dr Paul Hawkins, whose technology has been successfully introduced into tennis and cricket, is confident he has the system to end the debate over goal-line controversies once and for all.

FIFA have to date resisted calls for its introduction for a variety of reasons, among them the extent to which it could break up the game.

However, Dr Hawkins insists its limited implementation would be a boon to referees.

He said: “Goal-line incidents are the only decisions which are entirely definitive and the answer can be provided to the referee within 0.5 seconds of the incident happening.

“This makes a clear distinction between goal-line and other decisions.

“Referees want goal-line technology. It would be there to help them, not to replace them.”

FIFA has instead championed the use of extra officials, a move adopted in last season’s Europa League.

However, while Dr Hawkins believes that would have produced the correct decision in yesterday’s game, it is not a failsafe.

He said: “If you look at a large set of close goal-line incidents, many of them only go over the line for a fraction of a second, and no human is able to fairly officiate these incidents regardless of where they stand.”