One such thing being the use of slow motion footage in cases of suspected foul play …
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Slow Motion Contact = Murder on the Rugby Field
For entertainment and aesthetic purposes, the use of slow motion is a wonderful tool. Using it to review suspected foul play though is just a bad idea. It turns innocuous physical exchanges into acts of attempted murder to the naked eye, and this is starting to really ruin the game.
Take this past weekend for example where Bulls player David Kriel was red carded for leading with the elbow into a tackle which struck his tackler in the neck region. To the naked eye, the incident was deemed as nothing terrifically untoward by the referee or his assistants.
With the power of slow motion though, the angry home crowd was whipped up into a frenzy. Within minutes Kriel went from doing nothing untoward, to being a red carded mad man that had no place on the field. All thanks to slow motion replays.
Take this past weekend for example where Bulls player David Kriel was red carded for leading with the elbow into a tackle which struck his tackler in the neck region. To the naked eye, the incident was deemed as nothing terrifically untoward by the referee or his assistants.
With the power of slow motion though, the angry home crowd was whipped up into a frenzy. Within minutes Kriel went from doing nothing untoward, to being a red carded mad man that had no place on the field. All thanks to slow motion replays.
The Science of the Slow Down
When a visual is called up for review and painstakingly revealed agonising frame after frame, the viewer is expecting foul play. The prejudice is installed, and every single frame after that establishes malicious intent.
If foul play was reviewed in real time it would be so much fairer, less dramatic, and in many ways more professional.
David Kriel’s red card was rescinded after appeal, and rightly so. But where is the additional accountability to ensure such a call doesn’t happen again? Take away slow motion replays for foul play reviews, and turn it into a rugby review in real time, and not a CSI episode.
It certainly has its place, but please no longer for suspected foul play.
If foul play was reviewed in real time it would be so much fairer, less dramatic, and in many ways more professional.
David Kriel’s red card was rescinded after appeal, and rightly so. But where is the additional accountability to ensure such a call doesn’t happen again? Take away slow motion replays for foul play reviews, and turn it into a rugby review in real time, and not a CSI episode.
When to use Slow Motion Replays
By all means use it liberally in a broadcast. For example when the fire comes out of those pitch side boxes when points are scored. Use it to judge where a ball has landed to determine if it went out on the full or not, or in the case of forward pass rulings. Of course also for judging in goal groundings for tries.
It certainly has its place, but please no longer for suspected foul play.