Now that the dust has somewhat settled and the team are back home, we can at least start to look at the ghastly defeat of England by our German friends from a less subjective viewpoint.  Aside from the fact that we were outclassed and outplayed by an excellent German side, and ignoring the fact that a blanket of apathy seemed to be resting comfortably over the entire English team for the entire World Cup campaign (bitter, me?!), there are other issues that the match raised.

When Frank Lampard secured England’s second goal against Germany during Sunday’s match I leapt into the air in celebration, only to come down with a thud when the referee didn’t accept it.   I wasn’t the only one to be outraged as networking sites and newspapers around the world publicised the ‘shocking’ ref’s decision.  Every pundit, countryman and even the German team had, it seemed, seen the ball go clearly over the line.   The Guardian ran with “Stubborn Fifa”, while The Citizen ran with “Fury after England is disallowed goal”, and one Twitter status cried “A Day of Shame for World Cup Referees”.

"Are you blind ref?" - a common thought ran through the entire UK population on Sunday as Frank Lampard's goal was disallowed.

Technology in sport has been a long-standing subject of discussion. Like most industries, sport continues to undergo innovation.   However, Fifa – the football governing body – has been is resolutely against using any technology so far, and is only just “considering” entering a debate on goal line technology after furious and damning pressure from public, media and players.

Tennis leads the way with the protocol for testing line-calling systems. In late 2005 Hawkeye, a British invention, was tested by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in New York City and was passed for professional use. Hawkeye has now been used for television coverage of major tennis tournaments, including Wimbledon, Queens, the Australian Open, the Davis Cup and the Tennis Masters Cup.

Tennis is not the only sport to have succeeded with technology.    In international cricket, a third umpire has been used sitting off the ground with access to TV replays,  for situations including disputed catches and leg before wicket calls, and to advise the central umpires via wireless technology.   Basketball too uses replay systems to make sure players are shooting within the time allotted by the clock.   And rugby also uses video reply – without any detriment to the pace of the game.   

Hawkeye is not the only goal-line technology that is available. A promising prospect has been a “smartball” loaded with a computer chip, jointly developed by German companies Cairos Technologies and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, an engineering research and software development company, along with Adidas. The technology uses a network of receivers around the field to track the ball’s precise position in real time. That information is then relayed in less than a second to a watch-like device worn by the linesman or referee.

It has been a number of years since tennis, rugby and cricket introduced technology and yet Fifa is still only just embracing any debate – let alone being close to actaully engaging with technology.  Fifa’s logic seems to be that technology will remove the power of the referee or slow the game down – and yet this has been disproved by comparable sports such as rugby.  

The rules of sport have to adapt with the changing times – after all there was a time when, in the 1980s, the UK Football Association changed the league points system from two to three points for a win; back passing to the goalie was disallowed to help the flow of the game; and tackling from behind became an offense to help prevent serious injuries.   These rules, at first controversial, are now very much part of the game.   

The task of any ruling body is to keep a balance between tradition and technology, but it is also surely to ensure that the rules are fair and the decision of the referee reflects what actually happens on the pitch. (N.B:  especially when those decisions can change the mood of an entire country!).