Darryl Broadfoot on Monday: The problem with introducing instant replay technology is that it would make columnists redundant. Selfish reasons aside, those suffering an early season persecution complex had better get used to it.

The problem with introducing instant replay technology is that it would make columnists redundant. Selfish reasons aside, those suffering an early season persecution complex had better get used to it.

As entitled as managers are to bemoan the injustices of recent incompetence from referees and their unaccountable assistants, the blundering ways of Eddie Smith, Charlie Richmond and now Billy Baxter will hardly have registered on the FIFA Richter scale. The latter's failure to apply the revised law on active and inactive offside cost Rangers victory against Aberdeen on Saturday.

You could have put the kettle on for it. Three days after managers and referees met at Hampden in an attempt to cultivate mutual respect, the niceties bestowed from the national stadium proved nothing but a polite PR exercise after the latest high-profile error.

Therein lies the fundamental problem with implementing video replays of major incidents: who will foot the bill for the additional cameras required to ensure parity across all six Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixtures?

Setanta Sports use up to 12 stadium cameras for live broadcasts and one for every other game shown on The Full SPL. To increase the number of cameras, and subsequent manpower, across the board is a costly business. Criminally, it would lead to the Americanisation of the beautiful game just to make the facility viable. Implementing the challenge ruling, recently used to good effect at Wimbledon, would result in advertisement breaks mid-game.

When the prospect was put to Kirk Broadfoot after his team were denied a 90th minute winner against Aberdeen, the Rangers defender was instantly dismissive.

He believes the time-outs would leave players more susceptible to muscle injuries as the body cools down.

Video evidence is at odds with football's code. The real beauty is in its imperfection. Allowing goalkeepers to wear gloves, and then prohibiting them from picking up a back-pass, is radical enough change. To attempt to rid the game of controversy and bar-room debate is almost blasphemous.

The argument offered by those in favour of television evidence is reasonable enough. Immediate implementation would remove the childish accusations of bias and agenda from certain referees against either half of the Old Firm, or the rest, but where do you draw the line? If challenges are confined to incidents that occur within the penalty box, Rangers presumably would not have been able to protest Saturday's decision since Pedro Mendes' pass was made outside the area. By the time Beasley struck, the flag had already been raised and some of the Aberdeen defenders had stopped.

Goal-line technology has been an issue since a dodgy Russian linesman helped England win the World Cup in 1966. The game has hardly suffered in the 42 years since and attempts to marry technology and football will forever be fundamentally flawed. Instead of forking out for more cameras to aid referees, Donald McVicar and Hugh Dallas should grab their whistles and insist on a remedial course for Grade One officials.

Prior to the midweek meeting, a letter was posted out to every referee and assistant demanding better communication and sharper decision-making. The best laid plans lasted until the weekend. Craig Thomson enjoyed a fine game in trying circumstances and yet his performance was ruined by a stand-in assistant.

Unless world football's governing body decide to act on a global scale, Scottish football's attempt to compensate for a refereeing crisis will remain nothing more than a parochial irritation. Incidentally, the referee for the first Old Firm game of the season, at Celtic Park on Sunday, will be announced this morning. Good luck, pal.

And another thing . . .
Forget Usain Bolt's freakish hat-trick of world record sprint performances, Michael Phelps' historic Flipper impersonation and Chris Hoy's cycling heroics. The most ludicrous story of the Olympic Games was the suspension of four horses found with traces of performance-enhancing drugs. Presumably the equine drug cheats are afforded the same right of appeal as their human counterparts. It is highly improbable they will be around for London in 2012. As they say in Beijing: Horses; four courses.