PROPOSALS TO introduce goal-line technology to football were scrapped at a meeting of the game's powerbrokers in Gleneagles yesterday, but an experiment will go ahead to add two more assistant referees who will be positioned behind either goal.

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the presidents of Fifa and Uefa respectively, pushed through the rejection of goal-line technology at a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB).

Both SFA chief executive Gordon Smith and his English counterpart Brian Barwick had both been in favour of technology to signify whether a ball had crossed the line, but in a surprise decision they were outvoted.

Instead Platini's idea of having two more assistant referees - meaning every game would be controlled by a referee, four assistants and a fourth (or will they become sixth?) official - will be given a trial at some Fifa or Uefa tournament, perhaps a youth competition, in the future.

The initiative was widely ridiculed when it was first proposed by Platini and, if approved, it will put additional strain on national associations who are already struggling to recruit enough referees and assistants.

"The new experiment is presented by Michel Platini," said Fifa general-secretary Jerome Valcke. "He believes that technology will lead first to the goal line, then maybe to deciding offsides, then perhaps what is or is not a penalty. That's why there was a request to use these additional referees.

"It was decided that there will be an experiment done with that, with the assistants operating behind the goals," said Smith.

Barwick was disappointed goal-line technology was now "dead in the water". He said: "That's a disappointment to the FA but we absolutely respect the democracy of the international board. It has been decided that football is a human game, not necessarily a technical game.

"Like a lot of associations, recruiting referees and assistants is an issue for us and this would require two more for every game. We will see how this pans out."

The IFAB members did not uphold Smith's proposal that video evidence be retrospectively used throughout football to punish players for diving, although individual countries can act independently on the matter and the SFA will push ahead with a pilot scheme.

That means that from next season a player proven to have deliberately deceived a referee will be hit with a suspension, probably two games.

Meanwhile, Barwick admitted his disappointment that Scotland would not be at Wembley in May.

A match had been agreed between the two countries until new Scotland manager George Burley decided to decline it. "I think everyone had been excited about it. That suggests there is an appetite for this fixture. There certainly is at the FA."