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Handball

Bullyhammer's picture
Submitted by Bullyhammer on Sat, 14/02/2015 - 09:35

Discussing the Adrian red card affair has made me think about how the offence of handball is treated by referees. The rule book says:

"Referees are reminded that deliberately handling the ball is normally punished only by a direct free-kick or penalty kick if the offence occurred inside the penalty area.
"A caution or dismissal is not normally required."

But I'm struggling to think (and maybe this is just my crap memory!) of an instance where handball is given, and the ref HASN'T booked the player. What do people think? Is my perception that refs are harsher than the rules specify, or am I just wrong and do refs often not book players who handle?
And if I'm correct, did this influence the thinking on Adrian's red card; because many Hammers fans actually thought it was a fair sending off! What I mean is: did people think it should've been a red card simply because even dodgy handball calls always seem to be given yellows, so as this seemed "worse" they thought a red was somehow warranted, even though it's certainly not in the rule book?

Does any of that make sense? :-)

I've had a look at the rules Bully and I think the issue surrounds this rule ' A player is sent off, however, if he prevents a goal or an goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball '. The question then has to be asked, was it an OBVIOUS goal scoring opportunity. For me, no. What is your take on that??

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Bullyhammer's picture

Yes I agree, that's what the rules say; for me it was never a clear goal scoring chance, and was correctly rescinded. Mane was falling down facing away from the ball, there was a defender rapidly coming back, he was never had possession of the ball and wasn't in position to get possession. So to me it was obviously a wrong red. But quite a lot of people (not fully understanding the laws) seemed to think it was a deserved red, some quite vehemently! There seems to be this idea that a keeper handballing is somehow an automatic red... I just don't know why...

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I have refereed many of Oliver's games, u12, and the number of shouts for penalties grates me! I hate it and cannot make sense of the laws today as years ago it was very clear cut what a penalty was, i.e. a player intentionally handling the ball in the box.

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Bullyhammer's picture

I think half the problem (with handball) is that too much onus is on the ref to use his judgement, to decide what was intentional handball and what was accidental. It will always come down to opinion.

The one that REALLY confuses me, is the changes to offside, all this "second phase" stuff. I know the changes are meant to improve the game, and make for more goals, but they just seem a bit of a mess to me. Like That Song goal against Arsenal, everyone was saying that according to the new rules it shouldn't have been disallowed. But how the Hell can a West Ham Player standing a few feet away for the goalkeeper in an offside position NOT be interfering? As a wise man once said: "if a player isn't interfering, he shouldn't be on the pitch!" :-))
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moore 6 legend's picture

The Laws of the Game seem to be getting tricky and trickier for determining intent or not same with the offside rule it can get to complicated at times bring in a video referee for major decisions

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