BRIAN Barwick, the recently appointed chief executive of the Football Association, is a bit of an oddity for someone in that exalted position...when it comes to football, he actually knows his onions.

Barwick knows all there is to know, as well, about screening a football match on TV.

He spent much of his adult life bringing football to our screens as one of the original producers of the BBC's Match of the Day and - more recently - as Head of Sport at Granada.

So it's no great surprise that one of Barwick's first missions in his new job will be to seek approval from his colleagues to introduce a television "third eye" throughout professional football in this country to help referees judge hairline decisions.

And when he puts forward his proposals to the FA board, my advice to the faceless ones is as follows: Tell him to shove his third eye where the sun never shines!

Why? Because allowing referees to make decisions during a match based on the evidence of TV replays will be an absolute disaster for both the game and its paying customers.

Remember when TV replays were introduced into cricket to help umpires sort out tricky decisions?

At the outset, they were used to help umpires make just one decision...whether a batsman had been run-out or not. And in that particular area, the replays were - and still are - brilliantly successful.

But do you know the problem with technology? Once you've got it - you use it.

You want more and more of it until the point is reached where everything is decided by that third eye glaring down unblinkingly from the televison gangtry.

Now, in cricket, it's not just run-outs that are decided by TV replays. These days the game is stopped while the third umpire decides whether the ball has crossed the boundary rope without bouncing.

Let's have another break from the action while the man upstairs decides whether that snick carried to third slip. Was that fielder touching the boundary ropes with his body when he flicked the ball back to his team-mate? And on, and on and on.

That's precisely what will happen if Barwick gets his way and TV replays are introduced as a refereeing aid throughout English professional football.

Of course, the TV technology would arrive with a whimper rather than a bang.

At first the third eye would only be used to clear up those difficult goal-line decisions.

And just as in cricket, the TV replays would be brilliantly successful in helping referees make the right decisions in those split-second situations.

But would that be the only contribution made by the third eye towards the running of a football match? Not on your nelly.

Decisions based on TV replays would take over football just have they've taken over cricket. Penalties, other than the most blatant ones, would be decided by TV replay.

Should I send that player off for that tackle? Better have a look at the incident in slow-motion before getting out the red card.

Is that a goal-kick or did that shot take a slight deflection off a defender? I'll wait until I get the nod from the extra referee sat in front of his telly.


What we'll end up with if TV replays are installed as decision-makers in football is a 90-minute game stretching to two hours.

But even worse, the game we all love will become completely antiseptic with Big Brother looking down and making all the important decisions from under the main stand. And it will be a black day for professional football in this country if that's ever allowed to happen.

Do you want the ref to get every decision right? The occasional howler from the man with the whistle is every bit as important to the mix of a football match as that wonder goal from the centre forward or that blinding save from the goalkeeper.

What are you going to argue about with your mates down the pub on a Saturday night if the referee has never made one mistake from start to finish?

With all the stoppages and no possibility of human error, the use of TV replays will make a game of football as dull as dishwater.

Mr Barwick, use your knowledge of football to good effect in your new career with the Football Association. But just remember you're television days are behind you.

Do you agree? Have your say.

Tweet