You Know What? Replay is Revolutionizing the Sport, and Here's Why!

Do you remember those good old sports days when the referee made a call and that was the end of the matter? You could shout, shake your arms in protest or holler just once, but everything was fine in the world of sports. Those days have gone. Now we have instant replay... and I am going to say it has revolutionized sports for us.

So, what's all the fuss about about the instant replay? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Well, to sum it up - it is all about fairness. Imagine if you're cricket, your umpire reflects on a bizarre bounce in the 100m race; Imagine on the FIFA final, your referee has to decide whether it was a goal or not? Insofar as tennis game is concerned, call is too tight to call? In any way, these decision determine the Champion, the potential outcome varies across a wide spectrum. Thanks to the multitude of cameras and camera angles, with instant replay the referees can slow down, rewind and make the right call. Ultimately, the human error reduces to a minimal and fairness is promoted!

Instant replays are the gods for the sportsmen. Think of a situation when your years of hard work has paid off resulting in a victory in the championship final and you lose it all due to a poor judgment by the umpire. Ouch! Critics keep crying wolf, a decision review system for cricket or a Video Assistant Referee for football lands a great opportunity for the sportsmen to prove his point Wrong. Where all else fails it builds the faith and re-strengthens the faith when it is most needed.

And do not forget - try to get the emotion also! When the replay changed the game's tone as a whole; decisions were made impulsively, and the game progressed according to an unfaltering speed. Nowadays, watching the replay simulate a leaving-cliffhanger. The watching crowd hold their breath, silence creep into the stadium, and nerves are escalating - from those "intervals", have since then became the moments themselves - and, at the moment the conclusive decision is announced, has in fact as normal, been blowingly more deafeningly!

As spectators at home: Instant replay has made sports so much more thrilling. We are able to get a clear view of all the action, from various angles, in slow motion and can freeze the picture on the screen for closer inspection! This brings the sporting experience alive so much more and we aren't just mere spectators... We start to judge all the decisions and come up with our own conclusions and opinions. It also gives rise to a social media boom as each of the calls is trending!

But it's not all good news. One problem that comes up regularly is that playing the video can take time and slow the game down. On fast-paced sports like football or rugby, viewing reactions may be boring at times. Even a few spectators agree they would like a bit more gambling without them.

Next is the technology. With all those CCTV cameras, HD quality images, the calls aren't always clear. Sometimes there isn't a good angle, or different cameras have different viewpoints of the same incident and arguments ensue, constantly reminding us that technology isn't 100% accurate and sport carries an element of subjectivity.

Let's not ignore that this is a consistency issue. The rules for replay are not the same from league to league and from tournament to tournament and it becomes a mess for everyone involved. We need some consistent rules to rely on the system.

On the other hand, who can think of modern day sports without offside technology? It was just a part of the sport now, in last dramatic championships. As usual, moderation is the best choice.

As technology advances, with even better camera and more sophisticated artificial intelligence and real time monitoring, replay systems will most probably be more sophisticated. The sole goal still remains to help fairness, with the central element of the game always in mind.

In the end instant replay technology hasn't simply corrected erroneous calls; it has transformed how the world of sports is viewed! It has created more excitement, added transparency, and a new level of interactivity to the sports we adore! While arguments may continue indefinitely, one fact is here to stay: instant replay is now a permanent fixture in sport!