Brian Moore Football

Brian Moore: after a summer of sporting drama prepare for return of football ...

Don’t worry, the football season is nigh and soon we can all go back to heaping opprobrium on the one allegedly incorrect call an official made right near the final whistle.

We can ignore the serial failure of our team’s midfield to supply the front men with a decent service; overlook our multi-million pound striker’s inability to hit a proverbial barn door and excuse our manager’s failure to define Plan A, never mind Plan B. It can all be put down to the uselessness of the man in black who has to earn our respect.

Who, even though we concede he is human, is not allowed to make errors without scathing criticism and calls for his demotion if they go against our team.

What other sports, tennis and cricket in particular, have proved decisively is that the use of technology, to whatever extent is agreed, is a positive advance for everyone concerned.

You do not have to look too hard to see how previously accepted conventional wisdom and fact have withered in the face of the judicious use of technology.

Ah, but what we don’t take into account, it is said, is that football is a more passionate game, rooted in working-class culture, involving huge sums of money and the pressure on its players and managers is thus far greater than in any other sport.

Football is a game that is continuous and using technology would continually halt the action – anyhow, where will it all end if you start to use technology; might you not as well turn to PlayStation?

Debates every bit as complex as any that could be had about technology in football have occurred in other sports and solutions, imperfect though they are, have been found because they have genuinely wanted to sort out their problems, not just whinge about them.

It has been recognised that nothing is immutable and that without at least trying something you cannot gauge its potential success or failure.

Hawk-Eye and an agreed, limited number of player challenges have eradicated McEnroe-like tantrums about line calls in tennis. Similar rules in cricket, even those covering the bewilderingly complicated rules over leg-before-wicket decisions, have improved player behaviour and umpire accuracy.

Against time-honoured wisdom, trumpeted by opponents of introducing technology, the authority of the umpire has not diminished.

Indeed, the reverse has happened and players and fans alike now recognise just how good most umpires are and when transparent blunders are made, they can be put right quickly and without fuss.

Brian Moore: English football's 'get stuck in' culture is death ...

Rereading Limbo right now. Bought a Canadian edition many years ago. I agree that all of Moore's books should be in-print, all the time! Denis Sampson wrote a fascinating biography on Moore called Brian Moore: The Chameleon Novelist. It's a Canadian imprint, not sure if it's still in-print, but it's definitely worth pursuing if you're interested in Moore.

Brian Moore's Football Quiz Book

The lonely passion of Judith Hearne

Cultural power, resistance, and pluralism, colonial Guyana, 1838-1900

Essential Football Fan, The Definitive Guide to Premier and Football League Grounds

Neither led nor driven, contesting British cultural imperialism in Jamaica, 1865-1920