Hannover 96 test GoalRef ball for goal line technology

As first Bundesliga team, Hannover 96 got the new GoalRef ball that contains a copper spiral in the middle and reacts with a magnetic field in the goal to sign whether the ball actually crossed the line or not. They were able to test it in the morning training today.

The current testing is less about the technology as is, though, but about the handling of the ball. 96's second GK Markus Miller states that the ball appears to be a little heavier than the normal ball, but it has the advantage that it is moving straighter. He is positive about the ball from the first tests.

Source: http://www.hannover96.de/CDA/aktuelles/alle-news/detailansicht.html?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=52781

How does it show whether it's over the line?

Here's GoalRef explained in detail: http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/bf/ln/referenzprojekte/goalref.html

Those crafty Germans, always one step ahead

Seriously though, all this talk about goal-line technology and how it's going to be obtrusive and cumbersome and will hinder the game and blah blah blah.....

It's amazing how simple, concise and discreet this idea is. And it takes the same amount of time to execute as a referee looking at his watch to call full time

Lex wrote:And it takes the same amount of time to execute as a referee looking at his watch to call full time

Actually with the proposed vibration alarm, he doesn't even have to look at his watch and can concentrate on the game. Very practical. And they can get rid of the useless goal refs (the persons, not the new technology ), too.

I thought FIFA had banned all the leagues to experiment with technology? I may be misinformed, but I thought that's why no individual leagues had tested it yet.

Well, the Fraunhofer Institute developed GoalRef and it is one of the two systems the FIFA seems to endorse (GoalRef will be officially tested during the Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012 in a real tournament situation).

As 96 uses it during training, it is probably not really considered testing in the league. Moreover, these tests were not about the goal-line tech itself, but it was about the handling of the ball.

Oh, I just found this:

"The systems require final licensing in stadiums, and if successful at the Club World Cup, are also to be used at the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup.

National federations and leagues can decide on their own whether and when to use the systems, with a mid-season 2012-13 introduction in for instance the English Premier League not ruled out."

Source: http://www.supersport.com/football/article.aspx?Id=1464991

Interestingly there was no comment about the ball actually being heavier - this was the impression of the 96 GK. And you know, sometimes imagination does interesting things. ^^