SkyBlueFlux
Well-Known Member
I've been mulling over this for some time and I keep coming back to something I've been thinking for years now.
A penalty is a totally disproportionate punishment for an innocuous handball regardless if it is handball by the letter of the law or not. It's like having your legs chopped off for stealing a cola bottle from the pick and mix.
I think everybody is focusing on the wrong problem here i.e. that the definition of handball isn't very good. Okay yes, but I think the biggest issue is that this tremendously subjective call is either all or nothing, defcon-1, which just seems bizarre.
Now I'm just like... a guy... but I propose the following change:
1) Professional handball = Penalty. A player shows clear intention to handle the ball. I'm talking Suarez world cup style, no doubts. There has to be either clear movement of hand towards the ball. Or a clear 'making yourself bigger' with arms away from body in a manner that is DGSO.
2) Incidental handball = Indirect free-kick if in the box, direct free-kick outside the box. A player has the ball touch his arm which is away from his body (like Grealish). Whether intentional or not. Arm away from body, raised above waist height and if it hits below armpit level same as current guidance. Get rid of this idea that you can read the mind of the player on whether it is deliberate and also this natural/unnatural body position. None of this shite makes sense and so it simply can't be used.
Here's the thing - incidental handballs can't be reviewed by VAR as they don't lead to a penalty. Everybody stops talking and caring so much about fucking handball which should just be relegated to a minor niche in the rulebook.
I eagerly await the people telling me why this idea is shit. I understand it probably won't happen because it would be the biggest rules update since the backpass. Nice to think about solutions though instead of moaning all the time about how shit refs are (no matter how justified).
A penalty is a totally disproportionate punishment for an innocuous handball regardless if it is handball by the letter of the law or not. It's like having your legs chopped off for stealing a cola bottle from the pick and mix.
I think everybody is focusing on the wrong problem here i.e. that the definition of handball isn't very good. Okay yes, but I think the biggest issue is that this tremendously subjective call is either all or nothing, defcon-1, which just seems bizarre.
Now I'm just like... a guy... but I propose the following change:
1) Professional handball = Penalty. A player shows clear intention to handle the ball. I'm talking Suarez world cup style, no doubts. There has to be either clear movement of hand towards the ball. Or a clear 'making yourself bigger' with arms away from body in a manner that is DGSO.
2) Incidental handball = Indirect free-kick if in the box, direct free-kick outside the box. A player has the ball touch his arm which is away from his body (like Grealish). Whether intentional or not. Arm away from body, raised above waist height and if it hits below armpit level same as current guidance. Get rid of this idea that you can read the mind of the player on whether it is deliberate and also this natural/unnatural body position. None of this shite makes sense and so it simply can't be used.
Here's the thing - incidental handballs can't be reviewed by VAR as they don't lead to a penalty. Everybody stops talking and caring so much about fucking handball which should just be relegated to a minor niche in the rulebook.
I eagerly await the people telling me why this idea is shit. I understand it probably won't happen because it would be the biggest rules update since the backpass. Nice to think about solutions though instead of moaning all the time about how shit refs are (no matter how justified).
