One feature of rugby union has been its willingness and ability to learn and pick up tips from other sports.

This process of continuous development has become even more marked in the professional age.

This could apply to training methods, post-training routines, nutrition, mental preparation and complementary activities like yoga and pilates.

Having watched the now infamous Thierry Henry handball incident that dashed the Republic of Ireland’s chance of participation in the World Cup Finals, there surely can be no doubt that football should take a leaf out of rugby’s book and adopt a similar type of technology.

Use of the Third Match Official (TMO) has cleared up the majority of confusions around the scoring of tries. There still has been the odd blip where absolute certainty is impossible and, in these cases, I am a firm believer that, where it is a 50-50 decision, the referee should award the try — you have got to encourage and reward attacking play.

Where there is sufficient doubt, the same TMO technology could easily be used to clear up issues involved with the scoring of goals in football — not just handball, but whether the ball has crossed the line, a foul has been committed, and my particular bug-bear, diving in the penalty area. The time it would take to reach a decision should also be quicker as football lacks the mass of hulking bodies swarming all over the ball.

While players want fair results, ultimately technology assists the referee, whose job is becoming increasingly difficult, both in rugby and football. I have often heard it said by other people from other sports that they admire rugby for the way in which the referee’s decision is final and there is an absence of bickering from the players. Along with the introduction of technology to football could be the adoption of a zero tolerance policy for the treatment of referees.

Yellow cards could easily be shown and 10 minutes in a sin bin might allow that player 10 minutes to reflect on why he felt

it necessary to question the referee’s parentage. In rugby there is an innate respect for the ref and, as the game has got quicker and the pressure greater, technology has helped the relationship between the players and the match officials.

Rugby combined with tennis might help further. Allowing a football manager to challenge a limited number of refereeing decisions, eg twice in a game, might then lessen the increasingly wearisome habit of slating referees in post-match interviews. Referee-baiting seems to be de rigeur in football. Players follow the example of their managers, and the example currently being set could hardly be worse.

However football decides to move forward, move forward it must and the example of technology in rugby may well prove to be the most constructive guideline. While we all, at times, have issues with referees, it is stating the obvious that without them our respective sports are unplayable. We need to support them and make their lives easier.

It is a sad indictment of homo sapiens that leaving it up to the players and coaches just isn’t good enough anymore.