I've made no secret of my desire to see modern television technology used at football matches. I firmly believe holding back from using something so readily available is having a detrimental effect on football as a whole.

Sadly, the football authorities, in their infinite wisdom, are about as likely to take this route as Jose Mourinho is to win any awards for modesty.

But, for those of you who, like me, are utterly fed up with watching referees and their assistants week after week make a mockery of officiating, there is finally a tiny glimmer of hope.

Over in Cyprus, an experiment took place recently during the U-19 European Championship qualifier between Cyprus and Georgia - the introduction of two extra match officials, one behind each of the goals.

The plan is the brainchild of Uefa president Michel Platini (the law of averages says he had to have a good idea eventually) who finally seems to be recognising the fact that errors in games are now more talked about than the games themselves.

The way it works is simple. The extra officials patrol the touchlines behind the goals viewing the game from a different perspective and helping out the referee in instances where he may have been badly placed or unsighted. Or just plain stupid.

All six (let's not forget than all-important one who holds up the substitution board but is too busy to watch the game on TV) of the match officials are miked to each other so any advice they need to give or suggestions they need to make are instantly relayed to the rest of the men in black.

The extra pairs of eyes are supposed to aid the referee when it comes to the really crucial decisions like whether or not the ball crossed the goal-line, or was it or wasn't it a penalty.

According to reports, the initial trial was a resounding success and the results will now be discussed by Fifa and their international board in February.

I think the move is a great one. Only this week, my team were cheated out of a goal which clearly crossed the line but was not given by the officials. We were 1-0 down at the time and a goal then could have changed the entire complexion of the match.

An official standing beside the goal or even anywhere on the touchline near the goal mouth would have been able to see the ball crossed the line and would have been able to advise the referee accordingly.

So in that sense, this new system has got to be worth a go.

My reservations, though, are simple. Where the devil are we going to find all these extra officials from?

Using video replays is simple and cost effective. Pretty much all professional games are filmed these days and setting up a screen or two on the touchline is no big deal. An afternoon's work at most.

However, increasing the number of decent match officials by 50 per cent is going to be considerably more tricky. Especially considering that many existing officials are not particularly good at their job.

Let's not forget that referees are not very highly paid. And they have to put up with so much abuse that their jobs are hardly top of every kid's list when it comes to careers day.

Attracting a whole new swarm of people to become whistle-blowers will be no easy task.

Uefa's solution to that is to only use the six-man crack teams for football at the very highest level. Which is a bit unfair on those playing the game further down the pyramid.

Having said that, while there are undoubtedly flaws in the scheme, it has to be welcomed and embraced as a massive step in the right direction.

I still maintain that television replays would be simpler, cheaper and quicker to introduce. Not to mention more effective.

But anything aimed at stopping referees ruining football matches has got to be viewed positively.

Six miraculous recoveries

As if to emphasise the point I made last week, let's take a little look at the regular England internationals who missed the match with Germany through 'injury'.

They were Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Wes Brown, Emile Heskey, Theo Walcott and Steven Gerrard.

Of those, only Brown, Walcott and Gerrard failed to play for their clubs in last weekend's Premiership matches. And, to add insult to lack of injury, of those that did play for their clubs only one failed to complete the full match - Joe Cole, coming off after 82 minutes.

Can someone please explain to me how a player who is not fit enough to even sit on the bench on a Wednesday night can miraculously be capable of playing an entire match less than 70 hours later?

I understand that if a player is carrying a knock it doesn't make sense for them to risk aggravating it by playing for their country in a meaningless friendly.

But, equally, don't tell me there isn't an element of clubs finding excuses to rest their players ahead of important matches.

If sitting at home rubbing a poorly toe is more appealing to these stars than playing for their country, then when really important matches come round they should be left out of the squad.

As it happened, the understudies did their nation proud. Those who couldn't be bothered to turn up just made me sick.

Think pink

In my time as a football fan I have seen a lot of silly things, but even I was shocked and stunned by Niklas Bendtner's new pink boots.

The man must have self-confidence oozing out over every single pore to dare taking to the field of play in what looked like, let's face it, discarded ballet shoes.

And could he have chosen a worse time to debut the delicate-looking footwear? Possibly not.

Just days earlier (now ex-) Arsenal captain William Gallas had launched an astonishing attack on his teammates for being too wimpy and called on them to "soldier up".

What better way to show you are up for a fight than to turn out in footwear normally reserved for the Bolshoi Ballet?

In his defence, Bendtner has actually played slightly less badly than usual since donning the new boots and even managed the winner against Dynamo Kiev.

In fact, maybe Arsene Wenger should think about dressing his entire under-achieving team in little pink booties for this afternoon's game with Chelsea.

Reducing John Terry to tears of laughter may be the only way they can get a result at Stamford Bridge.

Wolves feeling blue

Fan of the week award has to go to the Birmingham City supporter who managed to write his club's nickname in bricks at the home of rivals Wolves.

The builder used different coloured bricks when laying the flooring to spell the word 'Blues' on the ground just feet from the turnstiles at the Molineux ground.

But the best part of the story is that nobody noticed his little prank for four years. And it would probably have gone unnoticed if a video hadn't appeared on You Tube.

Wolves have since ripped up the offending pavement and relaid it as it was originally intended.

Right now they are probably scouring the ground by helicopter to see if the unnamed builder left any other little reminders of his allegiance.

Your say

M. Portelli writes:

"I have to disagree with you about Butcher not shaking hands with Maradona. If you say that Drogba should be punished for acting like he did because millions of people - especially children - are watching him, then you have to say that Butcher acted inappropriately as well.

"I understand it is a difficult thing to accept and I admit that Maradona is not a guy I admire a lot, but he did score by dribbling past the English national team, including the goalkeeper, so the 'Hand of God' goal should not condemn Maradona.

On the Chelsea part, I agree with you as you did not address Chelsea in any way and it is true that some English players such as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have lost some loyalty towards their nationality. But you cannot blame them if they are paid thousands for not even qualifying for Euro 2008."

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com