Birmingham Chairman David Gold Strikes a Blow for Euclid

Noted pornographer and Birmingham City chairman David Gold has a reasonable point about the problem with the current goal-line rule under FIFA’s Laws of the Game:

The Laws of the Game published by Fifa for the 2008-09 season states, “A goal is scored when the whole ball passes over the goal line” which is then illustrated by a diagram. This rule needs to be addressed.

A goal should be given if the whole ball crosses an imaginary line between the front of the two goal posts. In other words, the whole of the ball has to cross the front of the goal line not the back of it. A linesman has a better chance of determining whether the whole ball has crossed the front of the goal line then the back of the goal line. At present he is required to view the incident through, at best, the side netting and, at worst, the side netting plus the keepers, towel, handbag and water bottle.

In American football, a touchdown is scored the moment one subatomic particle of the ball is deemed to have crossed the depthless vertical plane at the front of the goal line. It’s not necessarily any easier to judge, but at least it doesn’t thumb its nose at the basic principles of geometry.