Well it was a clear penalty, wasn’t it? After all, he raised his hands, and that’s asking for trouble. By the letter of the law, the referee had no option. He had his hands out. It clearly struck his arm. He can have no complaints. I’ve seen them given. It brushed the elbow. You can’t do that in the penalty area.
Seriously, does anyone actually know the rules of the game for awarding penalties for hand ball? I’ll be damned if I do anymore. Is there any other rule in football whose written form is so consistently ignored? I always thought the rule was hand to ball, not ball to hand?
So what does the relevant law (12) state?
“…a direct free kick (or penalty) is awarded to the opposing team if a player…handles the ball deliberately”.
The problem is that the written rule is not really fit for purpose. The fact is, very few handballs are deliberate. If we were to truly interpret the hand ball rule by the letter of the law you’d hardly ever see a penalty given for hand ball. I reckon, using no evidence and just a few random thoughts floating round my head, that at least 90% of hand balls are not deliberate.
So clearly referees are being instructed to interpret the rule differently – and from reading far too much of the internet every day, it also seems widely acknowledged with football fans that it’s not to do with a deliberate act either.
There have been meetings about this before, resulting in advice being handed out to referees across the continent. Take the infamous (bear with me) UEFA Referees conference in 2004, which asked officials to consider the following points:
Was it a hand to ball situation or ball to hand?
Are the player’s hands or arm in a ‘natural’ position?
Should the player take the consequences of having his hand or arms lifted high?
Does the player try to avoid the ball striking his hand?
Is the player able to avoid the ball striking his hand?
Does he use his hand or arm to intentionally touch the ball?
In Fifa’s Laws of the Game 2005, the document fails to describe what constitutes deliberate handball, which places the responsibility firmly on the referee and referees’ assistants.
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The issue should also take in to account whether or not an advantage is gained (eg Spurs – Chelsea yesterday) where although possibly not deliberate led to chelsea’s goal.