Fans at Argentina-England to see replays

June 7, 2002

SEOUL (Reuters) - World Cup officials planned to show television replays on giant screens in the stadium during the clash between Argentina and England despite fears that they could spark fan violence.

The group F match in Sapporo brings together two fierce rivals with potential for crowd trouble.

But FIFA said the replays -- censured during England's first match and possible catalysts for controversy --- had been shown "fairly consistently" at games in the first round.

"They will start off doing the same thing today," FIFA communications director Keith Cooper told a news conference ahead of the kickoff in the Japanese city at 1130 GMT.

Television replays are usually not shown on big screens in English grounds because of worries they may lead to trouble between rival fans. Stadium officials decided to censor the pictures in the first half of England's game with Sweden last Sunday because they threatened to inflame the crowd. But FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been behind a campaign to give spectators in the grounds the same service as millions of viewers watching on television around the world. Cooper said the high-tech screens had been a major investment.

"We have had no incidents of referees feeling unduly under pressure as a consequence of what is being shown on the screen," he said. "The players are concentrating on the games. They don't even look at the screen."

TV pictures have been shown in grounds at previous World Cups. But all the coverage is being broadcast on big screens at the finals in South Korea and Japan for the first time.

FIFA has adopted an "everything or nothing" approach to the coverage, saying that cutting out some of the replays would be giving the impression that there was something wrong with a refereeing decision.

In that way the person controlling the pictures would be like a "super referee", Cooper said.

But World Cup officials suspended the service after 15 minutes of the 1-1 draw between England and Sweden in Saitama, Japan. FIFA said there had been a "reaction to the images".