Fundamentally, all you need to consider now (assuming it actually hits the relevant part of the hand / arm but there was no deliberate choice by the player to handball it) is whether the hand / arm was in a NATURAL position for the body movement that the player was making. For example, when you run or jump, your arms naturally come away from your body in certain ways .. this is now fine. Whereas when you're standing still, your arms are naturally by your side rather than away from your body.
On the latter point, it's really time for defenders to stop putting their hands behind their backs to avoid them getting hit by the ball. This should no longer be necessary (as hands by your side is fine) and could even (by refs much harsher than myself!) be now considered to be an unnatural place for the hands to be
This has been one of the issues IFAB was trying to address in the tinkering that they have been doing. I will say that any ref who considered the hands behind the back "unnatural" in the meaning of Law 12 needs a long seminar in common sense and SOTG. That said, i'm not convinced it will stop because any time the ball hits the arm, the defender risks the R thinking it was "too far" from the body and thus making the defender unnaturally bigger. This is just a really, really challenging place to draw lines in real time on the field.On the latter point, it's really time for defenders to stop putting their hands behind their backs to avoid them getting hit by the ball. This should no longer be necessary (as hands by your side is fine) and could even (by refs much harsher than myself!) be now considered to be an unnatural place for the hands to be
I actually agree with you. It's obviously an 'unnatural' position per se but as it's not one that will tend to make the body profile materially bigger it's unlikely to be penalised. For what it's worth though, the 'nightmare' scenario I'm envisaging is one where the defender puts hands behind their back and then turns sideways as the shot or cross is struck. Ball hits the hand and it wouldn't have done if they had done the natural thing of having arms by their sides ..... cue the involvement of VAR with loud trumpets and flashing lightsThis has been one of the issues IFAB was trying to address in the tinkering that they have been doing. I will say that any ref who considered the hands behind the back "unnatural" in the meaning of Law 12 needs a long seminar in common sense and SOTG. That said, i'm not convinced it will stop because any time the ball hits the arm, the defender risks the R thinking it was "too far" from the body and thus making the defender unnaturally bigger. This is just a really, really challenging place to draw lines in real time on the field.
(and that the laws are the laws, there aren't special ones for the PL - a discussion point in itself, I know )