A&H

Hand versus Arm and Shoulder Ball

Harey

Member
Hi,

Had some incidents over the weekend in a single game, where I gave and didn't give handball, and would like some advice/clarification (as still a newbie).
  • The first offence, the ball for the player did unfortunately bounce-up, but he had his arms outstretched, and consequently played the ball forward into his path off his hand, so I gave a DFK.
  • Second offence, very similar, as the ball bounced up again, but this time it game off his shoulder. I waved play on.
The player from the first instance, still wasn't happy at the end, as he felt the shoulder was part of the arm, and therefore handball. But it got me thinking, where does on the arm, the handball stop?

Cheers
Chris
 
The Referee Store
This is something I'd like to clarify in my head before I start refereeing as well.

I always remember, during my first year playing (Under 13s), a referee continued play when our winger stopped a clearance by sticking his arm up in the air, and regaining possession after the ball hit him facing forwards between the shoulder and the elbow (closer to the shoulder). Because it was one of my first instances of seeing a situation like this, its always stuck in my mind
 
My claim to fame story on this subject. I used to work for ITV Sport (Looking after the money - nothing glamorous!). When ITV had the rights to 'The Premiership' as it was called then - the producer of the highlights programme rang me up on Saturday evening as they were editing and asked me if a particular incident where the ball hit the shoulder/arm was handball or not.

Now they obviously thought I was a quite brilliant referee because I had no access to footage of the incident!:p:):rolleyes:

One of my more challenging decisions!
 
Straight from my most recent advanced clinic instructor in the US: you should only consider it handling when a moveable part of the arm is the point of contact. In other words, the shoulder is a joint, and while the arm can move/rotate inside the joint, the joint itself can't change locations without the help of the muscles surrounding it, therefore, that joint is itself should not be considered handling if it is the point of contact. After making that assertation, he ended the explanation with an emphatic GOOD LUCK!
 
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