Football officiating

We bid a final farewell to one of the well-loved sportsmen of Cebu yesterday, Engr. Matias ‘Bombi’ Aznar III, who was finally laid to rest.

Tito Bombi was well-known for his involvement in chess and golf, but had also been a supporter of many other sporting endeavors.

I’m sure that those, whose lives he touched, would remember him for as long as we live.

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Frank Lampard scored a spectacular goal in the game of England against Germany. The ball hit the cross bar and bounced inside the goal area, but events took place so fast that the center referee and his assistant failed to call it as such.

In the replays that followed the non-call, it was obvious that the shot should have been a goal, but it was too late to call it as such.

That incident prompted many to call for changes in the way football is officiated using modern technology to aid the referees with their job.

If you have been watching the World Cup and used to play football many years ago, you are probably surprised how a handball now gets a yellow card.

There are also many calls that in the replay appear to be clean tackles, but free kicks are awarded anyway and there are also those that should have been whistled, but became let go situations.

In basketball, you have as many as three referees inside the court to blow the whistle when they spot an infraction. In baseball, you have umpires on all plates.

In football, you have one center referee, who must be very fit to run around the pitch and his two assistants, who we used to call as the linesmen.

We have seen in the NBA how they have used video playbacks to check if somebody erred, maybe this can be introduced into football, but then as to how it should be done, I leave it to the bright guys at FIFA to figure it out.

Football’s purists would probably find the need to go with the times while still trying to preserve the game that the world loves so much.

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The safety of the cars used in the Formula-1 racing was again highlighted last Sunday during the spectacular crash that involved Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

After climbing over the car of Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus, Webber’s car flew off the track and had him upside down for an instance before it bounced off the tire wall.

Had that happened elsewhere, you’d probably expect paramedics all over the place pulling out the driver of the wrecked car.

It wasn’t the case and everybody heaved a sigh of relief when Webber got out of his car in one whole piece and with nary a scratch.

Maybe the Australian driver must have said all sorts of expletives while his car was airborne or maybe he said a prayer, but whatever it was that he said, F-1 has proven once again why being very strict with the rules pays off especially in terms of safety.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings go to The Freeman’s Caecent No-ot Magsumbol, the mommy to be who celebrated last Monday.

The same goes to my good friend Edvin Kaw, Boots Cabahug and Imelda Catacutan-Garbanzos, who also celebrated that day.

Belated happy birthday also goes to Paul Miaga and Ricky paul Tio, who also celebrated yesterday.

Today’s greetings go to Christine Pereña-Abalo of Continental Air, Guy Gabison,a nd Aledel Gonzales-Cuizon.

More power to all of you! - THE FREEMAN