A controversial moment on Saturday could have been cleared up quickly with modern technology and Gillingham’s head coach is keen to see it introduced.
Goal-line technology has been around for a decade at the top of English football but isn’t used in the lower leagues. It could have quickly determined whether Macauley Bonne’s 15th minute header against Bradford had crossed the line or not.
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Head coach Stephen Clemence admitted he was still unsure himself whether the ball had fully crossed the line after watching a replay of the incident, which happened with the game still goalless.
It was a big call and the officials waved play on after Bradford keeper Harry Lewis got a hand to the ball. The visitors cleared their lines and would go onto take the lead themselves later in the half and eventually win the match 2-0.
Goal-line technology is a technical means of instantly determining whether the whole of the ball has crossed the goal line and was first implemented in 2014, with Hawk-eye previously used successfully as a broadcast tool to analyse decisions in cricket.
Match officials are notified if a ball has crossed the line almost instantly through a signal on their watch, with cameras mounted in different positions to determine whether a goal has been scored, or not.
“I don’t know the cost of it, but if it could be done then great,” said head coach Stephen Clemence.
“I think that is the one bit of technology in the game that is good. It is the best technology in football, I think we should have that.”
Gillingham midfielder Jonny Williams thought it was a goal, saying: “They haven’t got the technology in this league on their watches to give us that goal but a lot of players on the
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