When Geoff Hurst scored the third of England's goals against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final he ensured that he would feature in one of the great debates of the modern game.

Did the ball cross the line or not? Could more be done to ensure that it cannot happen again? Do we need a third official to rule on controversial decisions?

From next season referees will have the benefit of cameras when it comes to deciding on controversial goals like that scored by Hurst. Under Premier League plans, footage from a mini camera inside the goalmouth will be used to decide if a ball has crossed the goal line or not but not for decisions such as awarding penalties, free kicks or booking players.

The camera is likely to be combined with a beam across the goal line to help judge if the ball has crossed it.

The question facing those in the game, however, is how can modern technology be used to improve decisions without disrupting the pace and the flow of the game.

Modern technology already plays an important part in football. During the World Cup there were as many as 30 cameras at each match, providing an abundance of angles and replays. Sky television has developed Virtual Reality Replay (VRR) which helps to recreate incidents in three dimensional computer images.

A spokesman for the Football Association said: "We are interested in technology that can help referees on goalmouth decisions but we don't want to get involved in endless replays that hold up the game."

Other sports such as cricket and golf rely on television replays but until now, the pace of football has made it difficult to use technology to make judgments.

From next season, referees are likely to be equipped with a small gadget no bigger than a watch which they can either wear on their wrist or pin to their shirt.

Should a ball not clearly cross the line, the referee will be able to signal to a third official to refer the decision to a video replay. After viewing the goal, the official will be able to send an electronic signal to the device being worn by the referee to indicate whether the ball has crossed the line or not.

Using a sensor receptor the official will also be able to judge whether the beam across the goal line has been broken by the ball. The whole process is expected to take no longer than a minute, ensuring that the flow of the game is not too seriously disrupted.

But technology still needs to be combined with efficient referees as it will only play a small but significant part in a game, for the time being.

When it comes to paying and treating referees England lags behind the rest of Europe. In Italy and Germany, for example, referees are paid almost £700 per match compared with £400 in Britain.

There are no professional football referees in the world but Italian referees are given more time to prepare for games. In England most arrive at grounds hours before kick off whereas on the continent they have to arrive 24 hours before a match.