A&H

What should IFAB include in a new handball law?

Proposed change:

A goal may not be scored if a ball that would not otherwise enter the goal hits an attacking player's hand or arm and is deflected into the goal. The referee shall award a DFK (IDFK?) (GK?) to the defending team but should caution the player only if, in the referee's opinion, the action was deliberate.


The "would not otherwise" allows leeway where (e.g.) the ball is deflected off a hand tight across the body.

It doesn't deal with other "advantage" issues (e.g. a defender on the goal line sliding to stop a shot and the ball "accidentally" hits his trailing arm.)
 
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The Referee Store
In previous editions of the LotG IIRC there was the line about handball being a YC if it prevents the opponent taking control of the ball - should the current LotG be clearer about how a handball offence relates to an SPA offence?

At the moment we have a clear guide on DOGSO-H (RC), and on failed DOGSO-H leading to a goal (YC) and on attacker scoring/attempting to score with the hand (YC)... I agree as above that these would need re-wording if "deliberate" is taken out of the handball wording or the handball is rephrased significantly.

Are there any other scenarios - not goal/no goal - that the LotG should cover clearly in an updated handball law - just throwing randoms - defender handball resets offside... anything like that?
 
How am I meant to know whether another human has done something intentionally? I CANNOT ever know for certain surely?
Of course you can sometimes know for certain - for example if a ball is going over a player's head and the player jumps two feet into the air and catches it in both hands, I think you can be sure that was intentional. Or if the ball is going into the goal and a player dives full length and tips it round the post - also intentional. Now admittedly those are extreme example and the vast majority of potential offences will not be so clear-cut but it clearly isn't true that you can never be sure.

In the end though, I think you just need to use your best judgment and come to a decision that you feel in your own mind is justifiable. If I think the player has clearly moved their hand/arm into the ball (or into the path of the ball) when there was no other reasonable explanation for why the hand/arm has moved in such a manner, I'm going to see that as deliberate. Similarly if I believe the player has had plenty of time to see the ball coming and get their hand/arm out of the way but has deliberately chosen not to do so, I'm also giving the offence. Also if a player deliberately prolongs an initially accidental contact in order to direct or control the ball that is again an offence for me.

I think the advice about an unexpected ball needs to be re-emphasized and clarified - for me, it is one of the factors that seems to be the most often ignored. If the ball is struck at a player at speed and from close distance or if it is deflected from a very close distance (including off the player's own body) in such a way that the player did not have time to react and move their hand/arm out of the way, then it's not deliberate handing as far as I'm concerned.

Actually I don't think there's too much that needs to be changed from the current law apart from re-emphasizing the requirement for it to be a deliberate choice by the player to either initiate contact or refuse to move their hand/arm out of the way when they had the time and room to do so - and as mentioned, a reinforcement/clarification of the unexpected ball scenario.

Finally, I think we need to get away from an over-reliance on arm position alone as a determining factor (which is where I think FIFA got it wrong in the World Cup). Who can say what is or isn't a natural arm position? When players are in dynamic movement performing extremely strenuous athletic manoeuvres, the arms can end up in almost any position. For me, arm position is really only a factor if the player is standing still - otherwise there are too many variables. Whatever the starting position is, I feel there has to be a pretty clear hand/arm movement towards the ball as it approaches (or a clear failure to move the hand/arm out of the way when there was the opportunity to do so).
 
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