Football is the most beautiful game in the world, but also the one that most causes discussion due to refereeing decisions. Whether it's a phantom goal or a millimeter offside, a wrong whistle can spark endless controversy and even clashes between fans. But what if an infallible referee made the decisions, an electronic eye that monitors the pitch from above and reports fouls with absolute precision? It is the visionary idea of Seungmin Ha, a designer who designed “Referee”, the world's first referee drone.
The football that turns the blades
“Referee” is a two-part system that in the vision of Korean design would like to revolutionize the way we referee and experience football, especially at amateur level. On the one hand there is the drone a real quadcopter equipped with an HD video camera and LED lights, which flies above the pitch following the ball and the players. On the other hand there is the control app, which allows you to customize the colors of the drone and review the key moments of the match.
But the real magic lies in the drone's ability to automatically detect fouls and report them in real time with a whistle and a flash. Thanks to the view from above and the infallible eye of the video camera, "Referee" doesn't miss even an infringement, from handball to offside, from yellow to red cards.
A portable referee. For everyone
The beauty of "Referee" is that it is not a gadget for geeks, but a real tool that has the ambition of democratizing the game of football. Imagine being able to organize a match between friends at any time, without having to worry about finding an impartial referee or arguing for hours about a dubious goal. With the referee drone, just turn it on, throw it in the air and enjoy the match, knowing that every decision will be made objectively and indisputably.
A pocket referee, always ready to take action to ensure fair play and fun for everyone.
From the pitch to the Champions League?
Of course this Seungmin Ha really has a vivid imagination. According to him, in fact, the drone referee could one day also arrive on professional fields, alongside or even replacing real referees. Can you imagine the scene?
Think of how many controversies and tensions could be avoided if an impartial electronic eye was able to decide on the most controversial cases, capable of reviewing every action in slow motion and from every angle. No more "psychological subjection", no more "favors to the palace", only crystal clear decisions based on objective data. A dream for the fans, a nightmare for the conspiracy theorists.
VAR 2.0: is the future already here?
Of course, there are those who might turn up their noses at the idea of entrusting the "most beautiful game in the world" to a soulless drone. Ultimately, purists will say, human error is part of the charm of football, as is bar discussion and living room controversy. A world of final decisions taken by a flying machine would perhaps be fairer, but also colder and more aseptic.
Yet, we cannot ignore that football, like any other sport, is constantly evolving, and that technology is already shaping the way we experience and interpret it. Just think of VAR, the video referee assistance system that made its debut in the 2018 World Cup, amidst skepticism and enthusiasm. Despite initial criticism and resistance, VAR has now established itself as an indispensable tool for ensuring greater justice and transparency in the most delicate decisions.
In this sense, Seungmin Ha's referee drone could represent the next step in the evolution of VAR, a sort of VAR 2.0 that brings the eye of technology directly onto the playing field, in real time. No longer an after-the-fact support for human referees, but a real “augmented referee” that combines the best of man and machine.
A referee drone? I do not know.
Football has already lost some poetry and humanity. And it's a problem, because before being a sport, the "most beautiful game in the world" is a passion, an emotion, a collective ritual that unites billions of people across the planet. The referees, with their personalities and their flaws, are an integral part of this magic, for better or for worse. The difference between an epic story to be told and a video game.
If a drone referee were to exist in the future, I can only hope that technology does not replace man, but helps him to be more fair, more transparent, more spectacular. That in football the decisions are more precise and objective, but that it still has room for the beauty, the unpredictability, the madness that make it unique and irresistible.
Am I being nostalgic? Maybe then I would find the good in this too, maybe then it will seem completely normal to see a referee drone hovering above the pitch. After all, as a certain Pier Paolo Pasolini said, "Football is the last sacred representation of our time". And even sacred rites, sometimes, need to evolve to remain eternal.
