A controversial moment on Saturday could have been cleared up quickly with modern technology and Gillingham’s head coach is keen to see it introduced.
Goal-line technology has been around for a decade at the top of English football but isn’t used in the lower leagues. It could have quickly determined whether Macauley Bonne’s 15th minute header against Bradford had crossed the line or not.
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Head coach Stephen Clemence admitted he was still unsure himself whether the ball had fully crossed the line after watching a replay of the incident, which happened with the game still goalless.
It was a big call and the officials waved play on after Bradford keeper Harry Lewis got a hand to the ball. The visitors cleared their lines and would go onto take the lead themselves later in the half and eventually win the match 2-0.
Goal-line technology is a technical means of instantly determining whether the whole of the ball has crossed the goal line and was first implemented in 2014, with Hawk-eye previously used successfully as a broadcast tool to analyse decisions in cricket.
Match officials are notified if a ball has crossed the line almost instantly through a signal on their watch, with cameras mounted in different positions to determine whether a goal has been scored, or not.
“I don’t know the cost of it, but if it could be done then great,” said head coach Stephen Clemence.
“I think that is the one bit of technology in the game that is good. It is the best technology in football, I think we should have that.”
Gillingham midfielder Jonny Williams thought it was a goal, saying: “They haven’t got the technology in this league on their watches to give us that goal but a lot of players on the pitch were saying it was in.
“I thought that was in. It wasn’t just me that thought that, our players and some of their players thought it was a goal, but you can’t rely on the officials in this league.
“We still had a long way to go but had it gone in we go 1-0 up – and we are very good when we go 1-0 up – it changes the game for sure.”
One piece of technology that head coach Clemence wouldn’t be in favour of is video assistant referees – a controversial method used in the Premier League for making decisions in the event of a clear and obvious error or a serious missed incident.
There was a late call for a Gillingham penalty when Connor Mahoney went to ground on Saturday following a challenge but again play was waved on. The Gills were 2-0 down at the time.
“The VAR stuff that goes on higher up is something I am not particularly enjoying watching,” said the Gills coach.
“I had a few friends here for the Charlton (FA Cup) game and they said they absolutely loved it. They go to Tottenham every week and they love coming here and seeing no VAR because they feel that half the time in the stadium they are there having to wait on decisions, or they can’t celebrate a goal properly. They loved being here and not having to put up with that.
“I don’t know how much (goal-line technology) costs, but it can’t be that much can it? If we could have that then it would be beneficial.”
