Over the years, “blown” calls or missed calls by referees that have impacted a game creates controversy in sports. The discussion of what the sports world would be like if referees became electronic or robotic shows.
Electronic referees are used sometimes in baseball for balls and strikes, and tennis with their “Hawk-eye” system to determine if a ball is in or out of the lines. Although electronic referees may offer more technology and accuracy than human officials, it will take the suspense out of the game for sports. Long replay reviews at the end of the games to determine a team’s fate is what makes sports what it is.
“Human refs help players and coaches understand the game better,” Coach John Konoza said. “There is constant interaction on virtually every play, even when no fouls are committed. It is an element of the game that needs to be there.”
People might be concerned with having electronic refs control the game. However, even today, people can blame the outcome of the game on the human ref, which has become an innate part of the game.
“Players and coaches love to blame the refs for losing a game or a match,” Field Hockey coach Meredith Williamson said. “And yes, they can change the tune of the game, but ultimately, it is up to the athletes to make the necessary adjustments to win.”
For example, Major League Baseball has been testing what is called the “ABS” (Automated Ball-Strike) system in spring training, which is an electronic challenge of a call made from the home plate umpire.
“Having ABS is good to have one time an at bat,” senior baseball player Jayden Thompson said. “If they’re doing it every pitch, it takes the point out of it because umpires might know the hitter’s zone better than the electronic.”
People could argue that a sport like baseball could use the electronic system to make calls, because most of the sport requires judgment on whether it’s a ball or a strike, or if a runner is safe or out. On the other hand, football has many different types of plays to judge that require human referees, like pass interference or roughing the passer.
“There are too many judgment calls in football for automated refs,” Konoza said. “Some calls, like in or out of bounds, or a catch or no catch, are often better performed using electronics. Penalties like roughing, holding, pass interference, and unsportsmanlike conduct require a human element.”
Many will argue that referees have become worse over the years due to the pace of the games changing, or even the new replay technologies being added to sports each year. Electronic referees could be seen working in a few sports if they use accurate programming and testing to do so.
“Why not test it in a smaller league like Banana Ball or the NBA G-League, where it doesn’t matter as much,” senior basketball player Amara Comfort said. “Using it for smaller sources and seeing how consistent it can be compared to a human element will help see a better solution to having AI (Artificial Intelligence) refs.”
Another thing that electronic referees could benefit from is the criticism that officials get from spectators and coaches throughout the games. It is possible that criticism has been a major factor in the reduction of calls made by referees over the years.
“I think an argument could be made that the quality has declined slightly,” VHSL (Virginia High School League) referee James Koczan said. “This is due to any number of circumstances, [such as] an aging workforce, athletes that are increasingly bigger, faster, and stronger, near-constant verbal abuse [I personally enjoy this] from parents, fans, and coaches, and a younger population much more focused on serving themselves than others.”
In contrast, people tend to find ways to hack things on technology, which creates another big problem using these electronic versions of referees. Once people figure out how to exploit the technology, it will create a longer process to fix the issue, which may hurt a sport during their season.
“How would an electronic referee make that catch or no catch call?” Williamson said. “Players will get sneakier about their style of play to make themselves land on top of every ball to make it a catch. I don’t think that is the right direction for sports to go.”
Even though electronic referees may be looked at as a source that is programmed to make the right call, technology always comes with issues, which would be nothing different from human referees making their own mistakes on calls. Some issues like accuracy, glitching, or delays present challenges to the electronic referees that generate trust issues to this new process.
“I do think mistakes and errors are magnified due to technological advancement,” Koczan said. “It is a human element, therefore, by nature, it is far from perfect.”
