The big talking point on Wednesday evening wasn’t Aston Villa’s return to Premier League action in our tie against Sheffield United, it very quickly became about the non-goal as goalkeeper Orjan Nyland quite clearly carried the ball over the line after being bundled in by Keinan Davis.
Understandably Sheffield United were a little perplexed by the decision, as were plenty of Villa fans in fairness as well, but who can blame us for taking that piece of luck given the VAR decisions and nonsense that has gone against us already this season – let alone the fact we should’ve easily won the game, had we been able to put the ball in the net ourselves.
Hawkeye’s response was largely hysterical and simply frayed tempers further.
Hawk-Eye statement on the goal line incident during Aston Villa v Sheffield match this evening. pic.twitter.com/I2u5lqKMqe
— Hawk-Eye Innovations (@Hawkeye_view) June 17, 2020
Ignoring the interesting use of the word ‘occluded’, people rightly asked why the Video Assistant Referee’s back at Stockley Park didn’t intervene (similar questions were asked about our penalty calls), but they couldn’t…Hawkeye trumps them and Michael Oliver quite clearly indicates he got no signal from his watch. You play to the referee’s whistle at the end of the day.
Anyone Genuinely Believe It Wasn't A Goal?
100% Over The Line
I'm With Hawkeye, I Wasn't Looking
I’m pretty sure most of the players in the penalty box knew it was over the line, but Hawkeye has never had a problem before, so with no instruction I would imagine plenty of players (even Nyland himself) began doubting whether it had gone over the line.
With the melee in the box, I’d imagine VAR didn’t review any potential fouls simply on the basis that the goal wasn’t given in the first place but that didn’t stop the meltdown from some predictable quarters of the country and talk of sporting integrity and fairness.
But it’s nothing to do with unsportsmanlike conduct, it’s a clear technology failure on top of those we’ve already seen this year.
You can’t tell me 7 cameras couldn’t see it go over the line, but I could from my living room.
— Ryan (@bernardooooV3) June 17, 2020
As a Villa fan, what would you think of the idea of 'being sporting' and allowing a second? All's fair in relegation fights?
— Dave Trotter (@TrotterTheDave) June 17, 2020
Leeds didn’t do it because of a technology fault tho, they done it because one of their players pretended to kick the ball out for one of our players and then didn’t and scored from it
— Tom (@Tomavfc15) June 17, 2020
Dear Hawk-Eye … I'm in the USA and I could see the ball was over the line, have you considered a trip to Specsavers? Or Barnard Castle?
— Remy (@Rembeau3) June 17, 2020
The irony is, Leeds letting them score last year sent us up
— phil ridley (@pjridders) June 17, 2020
Hope we sue you for every penny when the lost 2 points costs us @ChampionsLeague football.
— Paul Daffin (@DaffinPaul) June 17, 2020
“Hawk-Eye uses a dedicated high speed camera capable of removing the players from the image, to ensure the ball is fully visible.” Your apology and your own publicity material make diametrically opposed claims. They both can’t be correct. Which one is right and which one wrong? pic.twitter.com/XFF9cJ4xBV
— Keith Gregory (@ZenKite) June 17, 2020
So today’s the first time defenders & goalkeepers have crowded camera views😂
— CFCDaily (@CFCDaily) June 17, 2020
Have you tried turning it off and back on again ?
— Kareem Naaman (@KareemNaaman) June 17, 2020
Kick occlusions out of football
— Toby Fair (@TopTopPundit) June 17, 2020
In the interest of fair play you should allow a goal to start the second half
— LUFC Worldwide ⚪️ (@LUFC_WorldWide) June 17, 2020
Do a Wenger: I did not see it 😂😂
— munir (@MunirEssa97) June 17, 2020
43' | We don't really know what to say about that.
Still goalless at Villa Park.
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) June 17, 2020
With all the nonsense we’ve seen from technology so far in the 2019/20 campaign, who’d have thought Hawkeye would come to VAR’s rescue.
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