18 Feb 2011

Australian football boss offers A-league for goaline technology trials

7:41 am on 18 February 2011

Australia's football federation chief Ben Buckley says the country would be willing guinea pigs for goalline technology trials, and offered the A-League as an official testing ground for the technology should the global governing body FIFA take that route.

Buckley says goaline technology is something the Federation should be open-minded about, and Australia would be a good place to test it.

He says the infrastructure of the A-league is of a high enough quality to give it a meaningful trial adding everyone wants to see the correct decisions made by the officials, and this seems to be a way of supporting them in that.

Opponents of goalline technology, including FIFA president Sepp Blatter, say its use would break up the rhythm of a match.

It is an emotive topic, however, and the clamour for reform erupted again last year when England were denied a goal against Germany at the World Cup when Frank Lampard's shot clearly crossed the line.