Whether you like to call them referees assistants, assistant referees or plain old linesmen, the fact is that they may be soon out of a job. Belgian inventor Antoon Soetens claims he has mastered an invention, which will effectively render the linesman useless.
Soetens claims that his offside machine, which works by virtue of two electronic emitters following the attacking player and the ball, is 100% accurate. The system would be linked up to a flag, which would run up and down the touchline on a track, vibrating when a player is offside.
Soetens said, “It doesn’t matter if your Ronaldo or your local village side, it makes no difference. If FIFA give me the go ahead the device can be ready to go by the start of 2001. This machine could be the solution to the whole problem. It has no disadvantages at all.
The question is though, will our referees be able to get used to refereeing a game with only the assistance of two inanimate objects?
Well they’ve got by that way up until now so there shouldn’t be a problem!
