I know there have been teething problems but I think it is inevitable that video technology is here to stay in football.
The English Premier League are quite right to delay its introduction for a year if they think that all is not as it should be yet – and players getting called back on to the pitch at half-time for a penalty in Germany certainly backs that up!
Once the communication for the fans in the stadium is sorted out and the referees get used to it, there will be no going back.
You can’t turn back time.
It probably won’t surprise anybody who watched our round-robin game at the Olympics against Sweden to hear that I would be happy to see video replays used in curling.
I had a ‘hog line’ violation given against me in the last end for not releasing the stone in time. I was convinced I had let it go properly at the time and watching it back hasn’t changed my mind. It was clear.
It’s heartbreaking when you see yourself on the jumbotron but can’t do anything about it.
If we’re going to use ‘eye on the hog’ technology (which has been around for many years now) then video reviews of decisions like that shouldn’t be too big a leap.
The advantages curling has over football is that our playing space is much smaller and you know where the main action is going to be (at the hog line and in the house).
Also, it’s a sport that has natural breaks and is played at a pretty controlled pace.
Ultimately, it comes down to the same thing, though. Athletes want the correct decisions to be made and if technology helps that, then use it.
* What a fantastic Commonwealth Games for Scotland.
The team can be proud of their record-breaking medal total at an ‘away’ Games.
Duncan Scott was undoubtedly the star but the Gold Coast showed again that you don’t need to win a medal to capture the hearts of the public.
In fact, had Callum Hawkins won the marathon on the last day rather than go through that horrible ordeal when he collapsed on live TV, he wouldn’t have got the same attention.
Ask people who they remember most from the Winter Olympics and I bet more would say Elise Christie than Lizzy Yarnold.
In four years folk will be glued to their TVs to see if it will be third time lucky for Elise and I’m sure that Callum Hawkins’ bid for gold at Birmingham will be one of the big stories of the next Commonwealth Games.
* It’s the last tournament of our season coming up.
With it being an Olympic year you can see that everybody is ready for some rest and recovery but the Champions Cup Grand Slam is a big deal.
Only the winners from high calibre events get a spot and ours was earned by winning the Europeans.
In the men’s, Team Mouat got to Calgary by winning a grand slam.
We’ve visited a couple of our sponsors in Toronto – Goldline and Nobis – and there has been some down time in Banff but we’re not on holiday yet.
Going out with a win would certainly make the time I’m recuperating from my hip operation a bit easier to deal with.
