(September 13, 2013 at 10:38 am)Texas Sailor Wrote: They don't have instant re-play or coach's challenges in English Football (soccer)?They have it for the fans watching TV (and probably in some stadiums) but it's not how the referee makes the decision. The 4th official on the pitch is the guy who handles all the substitutions (i.e. he checks they are valid, and holds up a board denoting the numbers being substituted). None of the referees has a TV with replays, at least not in any professional league I've heard about.
Just recently in the Premier League they introduced a system called "Hawk-Eye" which has previously been used in both Tennis and Cricket. It relies on a large number of cameras positioned around the goal which record the ball's position and can calculate very accurately whether a goal has been scored, before transmitting the result to a device on the main referee's wrist. Hopefully the system will be implemented in all pro leagues and in the World Cup.
