Reuters Soccer Blog

Beer and football go together like, well, beer and anything else, but add in a pair of plastic stereoscopic spectacles plus the inevitability of someone taking a camera phone picture of you looking ridiculous and I can see the combination wearing a bit thin.

Still, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people happy to give it a try on Sunday when the Premier League goes all Avatar on us.

Pubs in nine British cities, kitted out with expensive new TVs and all manner of electronic jiggery-pokery, will be screening the Arsenal v Manchester United game in 3D. So before the ink is even dry on that HD contract you signed over Christmas, there’s a chance for a peak at what broadcasters must be praying will be The Next Big Thing.

How do you like the idea?

I guess that might depend on how appealing you find the prospect of vein-popping, mud-splattered, spittle-flecked young athletes leaping out of a 50-inch screen and coming straight at you.

Me? I’m holding out for football in 4D, where you can take time back and make sure your goalkeeper was in the right place to save that winning penalty. Now that’d be a must-have service.

PHOTO: France’s Prime Minister Francois Fillon wear a pair of special 3D glasses for use in a virtual environment during a presentation at Dassault Systemes in Velizy near Paris January 18, 2010. REUTERS/Charles Platiau