Dave Craven: Letting fans in on decision-making could be a real eye-opener

I HAVE always mocked football for its dated attitude towards video technology.

It amuses me that a multi-billion pound industry supposedly the height of professional sport and on which so much praise is lavished, still hasn’t followed the lead of its little relatives such as rugby and cricket by utilising such a tool.

Admittedly, the Premier League will finally incorporate it from August in the form of goal-line cameras but that will be fully 17 years – and a raft of costly, major incorrect goal decisions – after Super League first introduced the concept of a video referee.

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However, in light of the embarrassing mistake made by Steve Ganson in the Hull derby last weekend, I am beginning to wonder if I have been fighting the wrong corner all this time.

Firstly, this is not a personal attack on Ganson. The video referee soon recognised his blunder after failing to spot Hull FC’s Chris Green was offside for the match-winning try against Hull KR at Magic Weekend.

He quickly sought to apologise to the Rovers club having admitted to actually tracking the wrong runner chasing down Danny Houghton’s kick when assessing the video replays. But it proves, despite all those high-tech cameras, that human error can still creep in to what should have been the simplest decision.

Everyone in the Etihad Stadium could see from the first replay Green was three yards offside but, unfortunately, Ganson mistook him for someone else.

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There have been numerous solutions since suggested to eradicate a repeat occurrence.

There range from two video referees working together, double-checking each other, inviting former players to lend their expertise or doing away with the officials all together.

That first one seems like using the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut. It is farcical to think that two professional referees need to be employed to study the same screen just in case one makes such an obvious blunder.

And that is what it was – a huge, embarrassing, red-faced simple error which will have left Ganson squirming as soon as he realised.

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It is unlikely the game will see anything remotely like it in another 17 years of video refs.

Of course, there will be rulings that many fans sees as incorrect but they will be the sort seen each week when the margins between ‘try’ and ‘no try’ are so marginal.

There will be countless contentious decisions on groundings, obstructions and such like but a video referee has to be given the authority to judge.

What Green’s try highlighted so vividly, though, is that there needs to be a safety net to prevent such clear 100 per cent mistakes being made again no matter how infrequent they may be.

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There does not need to be another video official there, nor a past player for that matter, as the job in hand is so simplistic.

Though every fan watching on Saturday realised it was no try, crucially for Hull supporters in particular, they were left voiceless as pandemonium erupted.

So, here’s an idea. In tune with the sport’s historic fondness for being innovative and radical – foolish or just eccentric to many – why not enlist one of those very same people to help video refs?

Of course, they would not be able to actually rule on the decision but would be allowed to converse with the official and, at least, offer some views,primarily spotting if someone is three yards offside before a button is pushed.

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Clearly, there’d be some house rules, namely that the fan could have no allegiance to either club.

But it would offer a rare chance of bringing members of the public closer to those that are so often the subject of their vitriol, possibly opening the eyes of both.

It would cost nothing to the RFL, who like so many organisations are having to tighten their belts, and would also be just the sort of novel, headline-grabbing initiative they are so keen to promote.

It could be a torturous 80 minutes for some referees but, after his own nadir, I’m sure Ganson would have cherished any advice from anyone.