Take the controversy and leave the technology

Serialisation of Geoff Hurst's memoirs in a Sunday print kicked off last week with a predictable reference to the controversial second goal of his hat-trick against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final.

After all these years – is this a sales pitch? – it appears that Hurst is no longer absolutely sure that the ball crossed the line after his drive during extra-time rebounded from the underside of West Germany's crossbar.

Still disputed – even Germans who have no great interest in football are likely to become emotionally disturbed whenever the issue crops up in conversation – Hurst's goal remains one of the great stories in sport, coming as it did before the pernicious onset of modern technology.

As most people know, it was awarded after consultations between the referee, Gottfried Dienst, and his Soviet linesman, Tofik Bakhramov, whose dramatic gesture of verification was accompanied in the mind of one wag by a soulful remark about Stalingrad.

Going back much further in time, Newcastle United's equaliser before defeating Arsenal 2-1 in the 1932 FA Cup final was held in doubt when the ball appeared to have crossed the dead-ball line before Jimmy Richardson centred for Jack Allen to score. Enterprising newspapers carried "stills" of the incident taken from a newsreel but were unable to conclusively prove that the referee, W P Harper, had made one of football's great bloomers.

To my mind, such tales are important to the fascination of sport, providing us with the many hours of peripheral entertainment to which advocates of modern technology pay little or no account.

A friend, Morris Keston, who has followed football, in particular Tottenham Hotspur, for around 60 years, going through good times and bad, puts it this way: "What, above all else, keeps football going? Controversy. You may feel hard done by the decision of a referee or a linesman [the term 'referee's assistant' has not entered his vocabulary[ but it will be argued about for many days afterwards. People who want the game sanitised might as well stay at home and wait for highlights on television."

Personally, I am all for the philosophy of Celtic's great manager Jock Stein, whose team talk before a Scottish Cup final concluded with a reminder that it is pointless getting upset over decisions as they invariably even themselves out. The former Tottenham manager Bill Nicholson, whose long-overdue testimonial took place last night, never let his players forget that they made more mistakes than the match officials.

Before a universal prejudice sets in, I had better say that the introduction of technology has not been entirely to sport's disadvantage. After all, plenty of punters, this one included, have been grateful (or otherwise) for the accuracy of photographic evidence in a close finish, and the introduction of electronic aids appears to have considerably improved manners in championship tennis.

However, sport needs to guard against the possibility that it is giving the gizmo merchants far too much encouragement. The worst nightmare I imagine a referee or umpire can now have is to come under the relentless scrutiny of television. For example, when the England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick was given out caught in the third Test against Australia last week, a television picture revealed that he had been bowled a no ball. In another incident, there was the faint suggestion of daylight between bat and ball when Michael Atherton was adjudged to have feathered a Shane Warne leg-break to Adam Gilchrist, although, interestingly, none of the pundits appeared to be unequivocal in their assessment.

It is impossible to watch any important game of cricket on television these days without being constantly reminded that decisions, right or wrong, are frequently marginal. If there was unquestionably a case for using television to get the correct call on run-outs, one has to wonder how the game will shape up under such a pernicious influence.

Football, I fear, is heading in a similar direction. One thing we can expect from a new Premiership season is an increase in television gadgetry, slicker, more revealing graphics, everything, as a once famous music hall comedian used to say, before our very eyes.

Maybe this what the sporting public wants, maybe not. But of one thing I'm sure. Take controversy out of games and God only knows what the guys will be left to write about.