Roy Hodgson has welcomed the decision to use England’s friendly with Belgium to trial the goalline technology that could be introduced to the Barclays Premier League next season.
Both goals at Wembley have been fitted with black nets and a set of six cameras after the FA and Fifa agreed to use tonight’s game as a dry run for a system designed by Hawk-Eye, one of two approved for testing by the game’s governing body.
Though no information will be relayed back to Peter Rasmussen, the referee, or any of his assistants, during the match, and the technology will not have an influence on any contentious decisions, the data will be fed to independent analysts attempting to measure the system’s efficacy.
“It is another advance technologically and one which I hope will prove successful and will at least banish some of the ghosts of the past,” Hodgson said. “I don’t think there are too many people in football who have too many objections to goalline technology because there is nothing worse than losing a game because a goal you scored has been disallowed when everybody can see afterwards that it was a goal.”
The International Football Association Board, the body charged with governing football’s laws, is due to rule on July 2 whether to permit the use of goalline technology. Two systems — HawkEye, which relies on cameras, and GoalRef, which fits a sensor into the ball — have been approved for the second phase of testing.
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Both are expected to be approved by Fifa, with the decision on which — if either — is introduced then placed at the discretion of competition organisers. The Premier League is believed to favour the Hawk-Eye system — which was part-funded by seed money from the league — thanks to its greater accessibility.
However, it is thought to be considerably more expensive to implement than its rival.