Will there ever be a time when sport fully embraces the advance of technology and change or will we be forever trying to escape its clutches? In some sports technology plays a minor role and in others it is the difference between winning and losing. Sport is littered with debates over the use of technology, from cricket and hotspot to football and lasers on the goal line. What can be agreed upon however, is that the technology available to use for whatever is reliable. The main problem is how the sports authorities see their game going forward. Do they see the abuse and bad decisions football referees get every week as a problem or publicity? Or would they rather use fully tested techniques such as goal-line technology or replays to stop the debates ranging off the pitch?
It lies at the heart of British sporting culture, an attitude to hang back on change until the last minute because we have it so good already. Having said that, it is only football that has shown this reluctance so publicly. County cricket was going through tough times 10 years ago with low attendance and even lower interest in the domestic leagues. To battle this 20/20 cricket was introduced, a type of cricket that all kids play at their local clubs. It incorporated new technology, new methods of training, new equipment and changing rules. In the last 10 years cricket has fully embraced the advances in replay technology such as Hawk Eye and hot spot. The success of these has been so great that they have now been incorporated into the rules of game in the Decision Review System. This was a change for the better of the game, however against the old order it seemed. Ironically the introduction of all this has led to the increasing quality of all other types of cricket, even test cricket.
Technology is pivotal and in many less popular sports it plays a role just as large as the athlete themselves. Professional cycling requires the most updated modern equipment around and if you don't have that you don't win, it is as stark as that. It is no coincidence that the Tour de France winning team, Team Sky, spend a large chunk of their £15 million budget on the best bikes, materials, clothing and training facilities. Whether you like it or not technology is essential to the fabric of sport. Traditionalists will always say how sport was better when it was simple and man versus man but science and technology has changed the outside world and so far sport has totally benefitted from the influence of technology on sports science and knowledge.
The USA use technology religiously in their national sports. The book-made-film Moneyball starring Brad Pitt showed the epitome of a technology and science based culture in baseball. Whether it was successful or not is not particularly relevant but it is something that now dominates American sport. NFL is known to be at the forefront of new technology and science within sport and many European football and rugby teams in Europe have seen this emphasis and applied it themselves in training equipment like heart rate monitors and high speed cameras.
It is a relentless advance but it is a massive benefit to the quality of the sport on show and the performance of sportspeople individually. In areas like rule changes and officiating technology that is effective and efficient has got to be used in a way that increases the enjoyment of the sport and fairness of which it is being played. There are always opponents to such changes; Sepp Blatter of FIFA has been against goal-line technology for years but finally the pressure has got untenable and it will be implemented soon. Technology as a whole has a bigger and bigger role in sport and must be embraced in a away that promotes the fairness and competition of sport.
