The role of Cameras in Sport.

[Lickszz 10]

What do you think about using Cameras to make judgemental decision in a game/sport. I am talking about decisions made instantly. In Cricket they have a third umpire who examines a camera replay on close run outs. I am not a fan of this kind of activity. Although you are more likely to reach the right decision I think it defeats the object that these are games meant to be judged by humans. You may as well have a camera to do the lot. It also takes away the element of controversy. I love controversy it's dynamite and is responsible for making these sports/games as exciting as they are.

[Zamo 10]

I think cameras are a good idea in some circumstances.

 

The cricket example you gave is a good one. Let's face it that cricket is so slow that stopping for 30 seconds to check if someone is run out or not makes sense doesn't it?

 

It also works well in rugby to check if a ball has been properly grounded, or if a player went into touch, before giving a try. It doesn't really slow down the game as play is temporarily stopped either way. Why not use the time to get things right?

 

Football however is another story. I would not like to see it used for off-side decisions or to double check fouls. This would simply slow the game down too much. The only circumstance I would use cameras during a game of football (I think they should be used post match to resolve "disciplinary matter") is to check if the ball has crossed the line or not before awarding a goal.

[Lou 10]

I can only really comment on football cos I don't really watch rugby or cricket etc. But I agree with Zamo that stopping a football match and watching replays would slow the game down far too much. Although (again as Zamo said) I think maybe it should be in place for checking whether the ball crossed the goal line for incidences when it's hard to tell. Other than that, talking about dodgy decisions is part of the game! It's hard when you're on the wrong end of it though, but I hope that over the course of a season the good and bad decisions balance out for your team.

[max 13]

I'm against cameras in any sport for the simple reason that smaller clubs would not be able to afford the technology required and we would end up with an even greater gulf between clubs. Eventually, you would end up with 2 different games such as happened with Rugby Union and League when they introduced payments for players.