Peter Grove
RefChat Addict
My point is, and I did not state it explicitly, that I do not see how a player putting their arms up in front of their face can be classed/seen/interpreted as a non-deliberate action. I hear "reflex". Is it? Isn't it a player deliberately blocking the ball from hitting them? At what competence level or speed does this become a reflex, and who can judge this.
What I did say, and I will say again, there is no exception in the law for self defence... and there is no exception in the law for a reflex. It is poorly worded.
(I obviously do understand what implicit means)
Let's see if I can make this simpler. A reflex is defined as an involuntary response. Involuntary means not deliberate. Handling which is not deliberate, is not an offence.
As for "who can judge this" - well, that would be the referee. However, having said all that, please note that I also qualified what I said, in my first post on this issue, by pointing out that:
you have to be sure it was a pure reflex and not something else.
To sum up - if you, as the referee (and the person solely responsible for making this decision and all others in the game) decide that what caused the contact between the ball and a player's hand was an involuntary action on the part of the player, then you cannot penalise it as a handling offence. If on the other hand you do not believe it was an involuntary reflex but rather a deliberate action, then you must award a free-kick (or penalty, as the case may be).
What you can't say (although you seem to be making a valiant effort to do so) is that something which is an involuntary response (i.e. a reflex) can be considered a deliberate handling offence. Once again though, it's your perogative as the sole arbiter of facts as they relate to matters on the field of play, to decide if it was a reflex or not.