FIFA mulls video replays for referees to eliminate on field mistakes

Chairman of FIFA's referees committee and Britain's vice-president of the world governing body, Jim Boyce, has claimed that he has changed his opinion about video replays and would back their use for penalty-area incidents.

The International FA Board (IFAB) has the issue of video replays on its agenda for the boards annual meeting in Belfast on Saturday. The issue gained fresh momentum by another weekend of controversial refereeing incidents in the Premier League.

FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, has suggested that managers should be allowed two appeals for incidents to be reviewed through video replays, while trials have been taking place in the Netherlands, where the referee is updated via a headset from an official watching the match on TV, The Independent reported.

Boyce does not support Blatter's idea but has come around to limited use of replays and would voice his views at the meeting.

Boyce claimed that he was always in favour of goal-line technology but not other forms of technology but added that he has started to change his mind. He said that if there are major decisions on incidents in the 18-yard box and technology is available, then he believes that the time has come that it should be used.