No Hawk-Eye The Noo

Last updated : 16 February 2015 By ed_ScottishFitba

Andy Walker believes some change is required in Scottish football to deal with goal-line issues. The Sky Sports pundit reckons there is not enough finance in the Scottish game to invest in technology, whether a will do to so among the governing bodies exists or not. The latest incident to cause a stir in Scotland came during Aberdeen’s 3-0 victory over Hamilton at New Douglas Park on Sunday. With the Dons leading 2-0, a shot from Dons striker Adam Rooney came off the underside of the bar and landed two feet behind the goal-line before the ball bounced back into the six-yard box. No goal was awarded, despite the black pellets behind the goal-line clearly moving, and Walker does not expect the incident to prompt radical changes on goal-line technology among the Hampden hierarchy. Figures quoted to install Hawk-Eye at grounds amount to £250,000 plus maintenance costs, and there are also issues with stadium infrastructure in the SPFL. For example, Hamilton’s New Douglas Park has two stands - Hawk-Eye uses cameras placed on top of stands to predict where the ball is going – this wouldn’t be possible at Hamilton.

C:WindowsTempphp5953.tmp(c) Ger Harley | SportPix.org.uk

Walker said: “It would be great to have it, but I think it’s down to a financial issue. The only way around it is to maybe have referees around the side of the pitch, who wouldn’t cost as much, purely to do that. But as we’ve seen from the Champions League games some of these officials behind the goals look as though they are useless. I don’t know what the answer is. How many times does it come up during the course of a season? When you think about the level of investment that’s needed I don’t think we’re going to see it introduced into Scotland anytime soon. I think the one yesterday was so difficult to miss because it’s a plastic pitch, and when the ball bounced so hard you saw all the black pellets flying up. To see that behind the goal-line would have been easier. I don’t blame the referee on that. When you see the camera shot and the linesman on the far side, I think he’s got to see that. But I don’t think we’re going to make any changes soon."