Technology is everywhere around us. Every day we interact with technology without even thinking, since it has become so natural that we are taking it for granted. Technology is changing our way of life, and just like our daily routine, these innovations are having an effect on the sporting world as well. We’re not talking just like if you use the OddsTrader App on your phone to find the best odds on sport, it’s affecting the way sports are being played and governed. So let’s take a look at what technology has been doing.

The first example which comes to mind, and probably the most controversial yet is the addition of Video Assistant Referee to football. Known more notoriously as VAR in short, this is basically a group of referees sat in an office of sorts with cameras all around with video replay from multiple angles, with vision that the on field official will not be as lucky to benefit from. This team will analyse key decisions in the match, for example a straight red card or a goal disallowed for dubious offside, and will review said episode with as much information as they possibly can to come with a potentially different decision.

If there is enough claim from the VAR team that the decision was incorrect, the referee will be informed there and then, and the official will then approach a screen where video replay backing the VAR team’s claims will be shown. It will still be up to the referee to make the call, so they might still opt to keep the decision made. However in most cases where the VAR team is involved, the decision is reversed. This is due to the rule that VAR will intervene in cases of “clear and obvious error from the referee” which is almost a guarantee that the VAR will be intervening when referees fail to notice something wrong. Some examples of VAR intervention are offside goals, straight reds for fouls which look much worse in real time, or even fouls in the buildup of a move which led to a goal. 

VAR was not the first piece of technology implemented in the football field. A much less controversial and almost perfectly working addition was made a while ago – the goal line technology. The goal line technology is exactly what the name implies – the goals are modified electronically so that if the ball crosses the line, the referee’s watch will vibrate in real time, confirming the goal should be allowed. If however this does not, you will see the referee shake off player complaints with a no gesture, often accompanied by him pointing to the watch, signifying that it did not signal the ball crossing the line. Goal line technology’s addition to football is potentially directed to Frank Lampard’s infamous no-goal back in the 2010 World Cup against Germany.

The ball was inside the goal by over a metre, yet the goal was not given as none of the officials had seen the ball being inside the goal. Unfortunately goal line technology has had its mishaps although these were very few and far between. Perhaps the most notorious of this is the double case in the French League Cup, where there were two key episodes in one day; one where the watch did not vibrate in the case of a goal, and another where the watch vibrated without there being a goal. This led to the French Football Federation to halt the use of this technology for the time being from all national football events, meaning the League and Cups. 

Much more successful and far less controversial is the tennis’ venture in technology, with the Hawk Eye Technology to determine whether the ball was on the line or outside of the line when it touched the ground. Being such a recurring event, it is vital that such a technology in tennis is far more accurate than goals in football, as in tennis this event is almost guaranteed to happen while in football you may have matches that end up in scoreless draws.

Especially in 2020, this Hawkeye Technology has been in the limelight as this technology has replaced 15 out of 17 human judges on the U.S. Open tournament earlier this year. HawkEye Live, as it is dubbed, features a staggering 18 cameras which help it determine which call to make. This system will also make vocal calls to show what is the correct call, and the umpire will make said call again to the benefit of the players. 

As seen above, Technology is slowly becoming more and more influential in our lives and even in the sporting world it is taking over. I dread to think about the future human population being taken over by killer robots, as many speculate with the overuse of technology, but currently it makes life so easy, it would be criminal to not use it.