What is goal-line technology?

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Football fans are finally heaving a sigh of relief. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa), the international governing body for football, has approved of the goal-line technology. Seen as a historic decision, fans are jubilant to see justice prevail.

The goal-line technology is a technology whereby one can determine if the ball has completely crossed the goal-line, thus assisting the referee in calling a goal or not. It basically includes a magnetic field to track a ball with a sensor suspended inside. Thin cables with electrical current running through them are buried inside a penalty box and behind the goal-line to make a grid. The sensor measures the magnetic grids and feeds the data to a a computer which determines if the ball has crossed the line or not. If the ball does cross the line, the referee receives a signal in his watch within a second.
Sandeep Saraswat, an avid football fan is ecstatic and thinks it’s one of the best decisions Fifa has ever taken. “There have been instances where there have been human errors. Technology should be brought in for the betterment of the game,” he says.
Jay Javeri, another football fan, believes that it’s high time to have such a system. “It’s need might be rare, but if the situation does arise, it’s good to have such a system.” The decision seems to have cleared the way for the technology to be used in matches at 2014 World Cup in Brazil.