Now, football shirts, boots that change colour upon foul, offside

London, June 30 : A trio of football-freak scientists has come up with shirts and boots that change their colours as soon as a player commits a foul or strays offside.

Austrians Christoph Doettelmayer and Joachim Kornauth, and German Svenja Schulz say that their "digital football pitch" technology can also provide goalposts and balls that change colour whenever the ball passes into the net.

The scientists say that the rise in poor refereeing decisions was what compelled them to think of developing such a technology.

They have revealed that they created the new boots after Austria won the right to host Euro 2008.

They also came up with the idea for shirts that react to fouls.

According to the researchers, their system involves sensors that trigger lights in the boots and ball, and change the colour of players' shorts when a foul is committed.

The scientists said that their "offside" shirts involved a strip of sensor-controlled LEDs that would switch on if the wearer strays offside.

Goalposts would also go green when a goal was scored, and red for a near-miss.

"The flow of the match won't be disrupted by our inventions. It will only make the world's greatest game fairer," the Daily Star quoted 22-year-old Kornauth as saying.

The three researchers have yet to get their idea past FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, who vetoed goal-line technology a few years ago.

ANI