I can’t say I watched Sunday’s Sky TV double header with any special enthusiasm - but that’s probably because I don’t support any of the four teams involved.

However, one consistency stared out at me in West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Spurs and Fulham’s 2-2 stalemate against Blackburn. And that is how vital it is that video technology is brought in to offset the continual disastrous inaccuracies of match officials in the Premier League.

With the insight of an official in the stands checking TV recordings of contentious incidents, Spurs would have been awarded a first-half penalty (or perhaps Robbie Keane would have been ruled offside in the build-up to Robert Green‘s leg bringing him down). And two of the four goals at Craven Cottage - one for each side - would have been wiped out for offside.

'Every other major sport uses video technology but football’s administrators still live in the 19th century, never mind 20th'


OK, perhaps it all evened itself out in the end - but that was more luck than judgement. Unless, that is, you reason that referee Mike Riley awarded Spurs a spot kick at the death to make up for his botch-up over Keane in the first-half.

But the solution to all these errors (and let’s face it, rarely does a game go by without a referee or assistant making at least one howler of a decision) is so simple. Indeed, it defies logic that FIFA, UEFA, the FA or whichever team of idiots in suits make these decisions don’t sanction it.

Every other major sport uses video technology but football’s administrators still live in the 19th century, never mind 20th. The answer is so easy. Just give the ref a direct microphone link-up with the TV official in the stands, and let him refer all goal decisions to the man with the playback facility.

They do it in all big rugby games, both Union and League, and it takes about a minute, if that. ‘’Can I award a goal?’’ or ‘’Can you confirm that No.9 was offside in the build-up?‘’ is all the ref needs to ask. If the playback reveals an offside, a foul or any other illegal action by the attacking team, then the decision has to be ‘No goal’. The same could apply to penalty incidents - playbacks would show instantly whether a defender made contact or whether the forward dived - or whether a handball in the box was deliberate.

I'd even go so far to suggest that using video technology would get rid of the divers in one fell swoop. The minute they know they cannot possibly get away with it, they'd stop play-acting.

I would suggest that unless it is patently obvious that someone is offside in the build-up, refs should use the video playback facility every time the ball hits the back of the net. If anyone says using TV would hold up the game, I say that’s rubbish. The anxious waiting for a decision is one of the most exciting elements of rugby these days and apart from that, nothing is more time-delaying in football than players rolling over in mock agony and pretending to be injured.

I’ve already lost count of the number of refereeing boobs that have cost goals this season. Kenny Miller’s effort for Derby against Chelsea is the latest. Had it been given, the luckless Rams might well have gone on to gain a precious lifeline at the bottom of the Premier League. Instead, Chelsea eased away to a 2-0 victory…helped by a linesman who gave Miller offside when playbacks proved conclusively he wasn’t.

I don’t blame the match officials - they can only give react to what they see (or think they see). But when the powers that be refuse to give them any help, it’s a case of the blind leading the short-sighted.