Franz Beckenbauer rejected technological football advancements

Franz Beckenbauer has always been a formidable force on and off the pitch.

I was reminded of that fact on learning FIFA are to trial TV evidence to resolve questionable decisions made by referees on key incidents.

This is an interesting technological initiative which follows the introduction of goal-line technology.

It is also one the world body completely threw out when I recommended and promoted it to their Football Committee!

I advocated that the technical areas of each club should have two opportunities to challenge decisions in each game at the highest level.

The footage would be replayed immediately, and the fourth official and referee should review it together to decide if the correct decision was made. In my opinion, that will bring immediate correction to wrongly-made key decisions.

There would be less controversy and fairer conclusions to important matches, while the technical area would still retain their opportunity to question two decisions when they are proved to be correct.

This is, of course, similar to what happens in tennis. However, the problem I encountered when I was promoting this initiative was that I used that reference.

The first person to object to the idea was Beckenbauer, then the Chairman of the Committee. He said: “Gordon, football and tennis are very different games. You can’t compare them.”

Now, I got on well with Franz, but I think he was looking for an argument to reject my proposal.

In my time as the Chief Executive of the SFA, I had the great pleasure of being on the Football Committees of both FIFA and UEFA.

I enjoyed many of the discussions, and it was great to be surrounded by famous names such as Pele, Eusebio, Michel Platini, Bobby Charlton, Dragan Stojkovic and Beckenbauer himself.

However, it could be frustrating at times when I felt that we could move football on in a progressive manner, but others didn’t see the benefit of making the appropriate changes.

Now, of course, that is exactly what is happening, with the authorities moving towards the use of goal-line technology in the major UEFA and FIFA tournaments before making it compulsory for national leagues.

The argument which I always opposed as illogical that it should not be introduced in football unless it could be brought in at every level of the game, has been defeated.

And, from a personal point of view, I can’t help but wonder how ‘The Kaiser’ will feel about it now when this initiative is introduced!