Fancy Soccer Ball Knows When it Crosses the Goal Line, Saves Refs From Beatings

In the soccer world (or “football,” to freedom-hating ale swillers), you do not want to be a referee who makes a questionable call. I mean, soccer fans are animals. Europeans seem to just accept the fact that after a match a roving pack of belligerent, mulleted steakheads will roam the streets of their towns looking for people to injure to make up for the team that they like not winning. Imagine what they’d do to you if they thought you made the wrong call! Luckily, there’s a fancy new soccer ball that’ll take some of the pressure off of refs.It’s loaded up with sensors, and when it passes across the goal line, an encrypted signal is sent to a special watch that the referee is wearing letting him know that the goal is indeed legitimate. Apparently the tech inside isn’t so sensitive that it can’t be kicked all over the place, and you’ve got to assume that intercepting the signal wouldn’t really be worthwhile, as even if the refs watch goes off when the ball is at mid-field he probably won’t call it a goal. And really, this should cut down on violence aimed at refs. After all, beating up a fancy soccer ball can’t be nearly as satisfying. [Daily Mail via New Launches]