Bolton Manager, Sam Alladyce has hardly been off the sports pages recently, due in part to his consideration for the soon-to-be vacant England Manager's position.
Almost all the photographs of him pitch-side at matches, show him with an earpiece and small microphone like an American Football coach. His assistant manager, little Sammy Lee, is also similarly equipped. It makes you wonder who they are talking to.
Unlike in the American game, the coach is not allowed to talk direct to his players during the match by radio communication. One club applied to FIFA to be allowed to do so but were turned down, to the approval of all those who think that coaches already try to control every action of their players instead of letting them play their own game.
Referees at the top level have, however, have been experimenting with similar technology allowing them to converse with their assistants whilst the match is in progress. During the initial experiment the clarity of the messages left something to be desired, especially above the noise of the crowd. Further trials are continuing and Graham Poll was seen wearing another device recently in a European game,
There is already in use on the Football League and the Premiership, a much simpler form of radio communication between the referee and his assistants. The referee wears a receiver on his arm and his two assistants have a buzzer on their flag handles. They can't speak to one another but the assistants and the fourth official, who also has a buzzer, can attract the referee's attention. This can be used for various eventualities.
You may have noticed when referees marked out the 10 yards for a free kick, they used to walk backwards. The reason for this is that players, the little cheats that they are, would often move the ball forward if he had his back to them. Now the referees are happy to walk forward, sweeping the wall before them, safe in the knowledge that if the payers do move the ball behind their back, they will receive a buzz from their nearest assistant.
It is also very useful for offsides, especially these days when assistant referees are instructed to wait before raising their flag, possibly until the offside player touches the ball. Referees look at the assistant the moment the ball is played forward and seeing no flag may think the player is not offside. It can be embarrassing if the play is allowed to continue for ages before the referee spots his assistant with the flag in the air and has play brought back. At least in this way the referee will be buzzed the moment his assistant raises his flag. It is useful too if misconduct takes place behind the referee's back when it would be futile just to wave the flag.
All technological systems have their teething problems. Remember the much vaunted 'electronic ball', that was going to send a signal to the referee when it crossed over the line inside the goal. It was planned to try this out at the World Youth finals last summer before unveiling it at this year's World Cup in Germany. Unfortunately it didn't work so it's back to the drawing board.
In the case of the buzzers on flag handles, apart from it being easy for the assistant referees to buzz accidentally, there is another feature that not yet been conquered. If the buzzer hasn't been sounded for 10 minutes, it goes off automatically.
Many people in football don't want technology to interfere too much, either in the playing of the game or the decisions that the referee has to make, many of which still rely on the referee's opinion. However, anything that can make control easier and which, if money was forthcoming, could be available throughout the game, would be welcome.
Dick
Sawdon Smith