Snoods out, goal-line technology in?

Goal-line technology moved a step forward yesterday when football's lawmakers said it could be in place by the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil. Announcing that tests for deciding whether the ball has crossed the line would continue for another year, Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, said he was keen to avoid a repetition of Frank Lampard's disallowed goal at last year's World Cup.

Blatter used to be a fierce opponent of any scientific methods to help referees but performed aU-turn in South Africa and yesterday repeated that the time had come for a rethink – provided a suitable system could be found that was 100 per cent foolproof. "That was a blatant, immense error," he said of Lampard's disallowed goal.

Speaking after a meeting of the International FA Board here, Blatter said: "If it works definitely, the board will say yes to technology. If the board says yes, there should be no problem to have it in 2014."

However, he ruled out any system being in place for the 2012 European Championship, with Ifab sanctioning Uefa's experiment of two extra officials that has been used in the Champions' League.

Ifab also outlawed players wearing snoods, the fashionable neck-warmers worn by a string of Premiership stars, including Carlos Tevez. "There was not even a discussion because this is not part of the equipment and it can be dangerous, you could risk hanging yourself," Blatter added.