SCOTTISH football manager David Martindale has waded into the artificial intelligence debate by claiming that AI systems could entirely replace human referees.
The long-term Livingston boss, who guided his side back to the Scottish Premiership last campaign, was asked about his thoughts on VAR, when he speculated that human referees might be entirely done away with.
“Where does it end?” Martindale asked, “Do you end with no officials on the park and it’s artificial intelligence that’s refereeing the game?”
Martindale’s comments came after a discussion of VAR’s impact on the Scottish game, and how the Livingston boss feels that the Scottish Premiership may be better off without the technology.
Martindale was initially an advocate for the introduction of VAR to the Scottish game, but has now become a vocal critic.
He claims that Livingston pay more than £100,000 per season for running costs of the technology, and he has warned of increasing expenditure.
Martindale said that he is in a unique position to assess the impact of VAR on football, having experienced VAR in different stints in the Premiership, and the VAR-less Scottish Championship.
Martindale said he enjoyed his experience in the Championship more.
In a slightly tongue-in-cheek moment, Martindale has asked where the line is. He believes that if the human element of football refereeing is continually chipped away at by technology, the sport may eventually end up with no match officials at all.
Martindale told BBC Sport: “I think I’m in a great position to speak about this… because I was VAR previously, no VAR, and VAR again.
“I’d much rather my season last year than what I’ve got this year.”
He added: “The costs keep going up and up, but to make the game better we need to spend more money, because we need to bring more technology in.
“Where does it end? Do you end with no officials on the park and it’s artificial intelligence that’s refereeing the game? Because that’s where it’s going to go.
“Not robots, just artificial intelligence. Cameras videoing the game. Cameras making the decisions.
“You look at AI, there’s data that says by 2030 the evolution of AI is going to be much more powerful than the human race. Not just a human, the full global human race.”
When asked if he thinks managers could eventually become redundant, Martindale quipped: “Hopefully not, then I can go back on the building site”.
Semi-automated offside technology has already been implemented in the 2022 World Cup and Champions League, and the number of cameras on any given football pitch has increased exponentially.
Silicon valley firms have even claimed that this increased camera coverage and improved technology will see fully automated referee systems eventually introduced.
