3-Diculous

This weekend, Sky will be showing their first ever live game in 3-D. Why on earth would anyone want to go through the effort.

I watched Avatar recently - it's amazing. The way that a special effects film like that can be enhanced in a cinema environment is absolutely mindblowing, and presents an experience that cinema-goers will return for again and again. This however, is football.

Firstly, most people watch it in a domestic setting. You text while it's on, you make a cup of tea and a sausage sandwich, you have a chat with your mates. You don't sit there like a Japanese tourist gawping at the people buzzing around you, and to assume that anyone gives their full concentration to a game of football, even if you're sat in the ground watching it, is absurd.

Secondly, does it honestly enhance the experience of watching the game. Avatar had flying stuff, people jumping out of trees and inter-planetary war. Nani might be able to do an impressive number of stepovers, but it hardly overloads the senses. Surely most people will just get bored of feeling like a feather floating above the pitch?

Thirdly, crowds at football grounds are already shrinking. Is it honestly time to present Dagenham v Shrewsbury in 3-D, so their fans can feel like they're at the game without actually getting off their arses and getting their wallets out? This week, Crystal Palace have gone into administration, Portsmouth's website has been shut down and countless others face a fight to survive this season with any players or staff.

The progression of Sky TV has coincided with the increased suffering of non-league teams, and if 3-D is as expensive as James Cameron makes it out to be, things only look like getting worse. A pretty gimmick this may be, but if the commodification of football seriously begins to enter the realm of the cinematic, there won't be much of a game to see behind those multi-coloured lenses.