Under current laws of the game, no electronic communication is allowed between players, who are on the field, and staff, officials, etc. But now, a possibility is being developed where players can be relaxed to wear a microchip which would be a smart medical chip and its job would be to analysis and scan players’ health during play. Right now, this exceptional change is in discussion stage, but if rumors are to be believed, it will start on a trial basis from next month. IFAB, the International FA Board which is responsible to draw the laws of the game, has been asked to implement the trail from coming month. Though, there is no decided place where such a chip will be installed; some are advising it to be placed on collar while others are advising it to be in the strips. In any case, the functionality of the chip will not suffer. Actually, there have been many cases in the past where many players suffered sudden malfunctioning of their vital organs especially heart; hence if it is possible to scan the players’ health in real time, it would be a great help for governing bodies and players themselves.
Besides its favorable advantages, FIFA is little skeptical about the use of any electronic chip that is capable of communication during the play coz of its unpermitted uses. To avoid the chances of its misuse, there are recommendations to use this chip as ‘no brainer’ which can’t be hacked, but still, it can be manipulated later by expert cyber hackers. Stewart Regan, the chief executive of the Scottish FA told in a press conference, “There may well be medical benefits. These chips can monitor heart performance, distance run, changes in a person’s body functions what’s operating differently to how it was in the first half.
“We are looking at whether there are medical benefits, such as whether it can warn of problems such as Fabrice Muamba suffered, which would make it a no brainer for this to come in.
“We are trying to consider whether or not things can make a positive difference in the game rather than just another example of technology being brought in.
“There is a chip in the shirt at the back of the player’s neck and the data is fed back into a laptop.”
In one of the worst cases, Muamba fell down during a FA Cup clash and his heart stopped working for almost 78 minutes last year. Though, he later saved by the doctors but he could not fully recover to play again.