August 5th, 2012, Emilene Parry
Like so many places in the world, in the UAE and KSA football is an extremely popular sport. Over three-fifths (63%) claim to watch or play football: however, it enjoys significantly greater popularity amongst males (75%) than females (44%).
- Eight in every ten (81%) of those who watch or play football support the use of goal-side technology.
- More than half (55%) of those who do not support the use of goal-side technology believe that the goal mistakes are part of the excitement of the game.
There is no denying that the use of technology has made a significant impact in the world of sport but introducing technology into football has been a controversial topic in the past few years, in particular the use of goal-side technology. It appears that in both the UAE and KSA support for using technology in football is very high, with eight in every ten (81%) of those who watch or play football supporting the use of goal-side technology.
The main reason for supporting the use of goal-side technology is that the goal mistakes are often game changing (65%), take the recent England-Ukraine match in Euro 2012 for example. Supporters for goal-side technology also argue that the technology is extremely accurate and reliable (58%) and that it is necessary as the officials make too many goal mistakes (46%).
Goal mistakes are not easily forgotten, especially if the teams you support are involved. However, on the other side of the argument, more than half (55%) of those who do not support the use of goal-side technology believe that the goal mistakes are part of the excitement of the game. Non-supporters are worried that introducing goal-side technology will only lead to further use of technology which will only spoil the game (49%) and using this technology will disrupt the flow of the game (27%). Only a minority (9%) do not trust the technology.
Support for the use of technology in football is not limited to goal-side technology, with 56% supporting the use of offside detection devices, 50% supporting TV replays for red card decisions and 23% even supporting the use of TV replays for throw-ins!
This poll was carried out using YouGov’s online panel between 22nd and 28th July 2012. It features the responses of 1506 people, 752 in KSA and 754 in UAE.