The long-awaited introduction of goal-line technology to football is likely to perpetrate a mass deception on television viewers, a journalist has claimed.

Measurement involves error, and there should be 'on-screen honesty' on the limitations of the new move, writes Nic Fleming, a freelance science and technology journalist, in the journal Nature.

He said that those in charge of the game had finally bowed to public pressure and next month's Confederations Cup in Brazil would see goal-line technology used in an international tournament for the first time.

'In August, a similar system will be introduced into the English Premier League, the richest and highest-profile league in the world,' he said.

'The companies involved are already discussing how their machines could be applied to help football referees make offside, handball and other decisions.

'Sports officials in the United States and Canada are watching with interest.

'Yet the introduction of goal-line technology to football is likely to perpetrate a mass deception on television viewers.

'It will miss a huge opportunity to educate people about the role of uncertainty in science.

'And it will exacerbate the approaching danger of fake computer-generated video footage.'