FA chief executive Mark Bullingham believes the Premier League need to explore implementing semi-automated offside technology.
After successful trials at the World Cup, the Premier League have continued to delay on the introduction of semi-automated offside technology.
Despite lengthy delays and multiple instances of human error, such as the Brentford offside against Arsenal where they forgot to check the offside player, or the Luis Diaz “offside” against Spurs, the Premier League continue to use their flawed and error-prone system.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham thinks it’s time for the league to explore the semi-automated technology.
“Of course, you used to have people complaining about the decisions and it is important to get decisions right and that’s a starting point, but in terms of technology the impression is: are there ways you can make decisions quicker?” Bullingham asked.
“I think everyone hates that long pause in the stadium or at home. You are seeing technological innovations in terms of semi-autonomous offside and that could eventually go autonomous.
“That would mean very accurate decisions very, very quickly. I think that’s an area we absolutely need to keep exploring.”
The Premier League have previously discussed implementing semi-automated offsides, but they’ve always delayed doing so.
There was talk of a lack of agreement over which parts of the body would be considered offside back in April, and there were also complaints about how long it takes for the images to come through to broadcasters.
There’s no disputing the fact that the semi-automated system is significantly faster than the current system when it comes to actually making the decisions. It’s just a question of whether Sky Sports and co. can show the VAR graphic quickly or not.
But those concerns feel like excuses. The league is often averse to major change of any kind, and that’s probably the real reason we haven’t seen the technology brought in.