Handball has to be deliberate

[Padfoot]

Unless the player has more than enough time to move his hand/arm out of the way and simply chooses not to. Which is, I accept, only the case on a "handful" of occasions

Irrelevant......if the hand was already there before the ball was struck....it can only be "ball to hand"......where does it say the player is obliged to move their arm out of the way?

 

[RobOda]

I've had a few handballs this season.

Two somewhat amusing incidents;

Striker gets the ball just outside the box in a central area. Defender flies in, takes him out. I spy with my little eye, his strike partner clean through on the inside edge of the box. The ball goes to him. I shout "ADVANTAGE!"

He flicks the ball in the air and catches it. I blow the whistle and give a freekick against him. He tried to argue that there was a freekick, and I conceded, that yes, it was a foul, but you were wide open, clean through on goal and for whatever reason you picked the bloody ball up. Not my fault you've thrown the advantage away there. Even the defending team were taking the piss out of him, and even his own team were a bit miffed and (fortunately) happy to recognise it was a good advantage call... -_-


Second one...

Player tries a cross-field pass, the receiver looks up, realises it is far too high and going out of play, and so he jumps up and catches the ball. Blow the whistle, free-kick, no caution. Both teams took the piss out of him for that one.


There's been a few claims for handball in the box on the goal line, which I've missed from bodies getting in the way. Some of them are my own fault from lack of match sharpness on positioning. Some of them, there's no chance I would see them without getting in the way of play. Can't get them all I guess.

 

[Russell Jones]

Irrelevant......if the hand was already there before the ball was struck....it can only be "ball to hand"......where does it say the player is obliged to move their arm out of the way?

The headline phrase in this section of Law 12 says "Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm". If a player has loads of time to get his arm out of the way and consciously chooses not to, this then becomes, by definition, a deliberate act.

 

[one]

The headline phrase in this section of Law 12 says "Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm". If a player has loads of time to get his arm out of the way and consciously chooses not to, this then becomes, by definition, a deliberate act.

For me, he doesn't even have to have loads of time. Its the knowledge of him knowing his hand is being used to block the ball.

Consider the scenario of a free kick just outside the PA (or IFK on the 6 yard line for that matter). If all player in the wall are standing with their hands/arms raised stretched out in the air before the ball is kicked, they won't have that much time to get their hand out of the way of the ball. It is a ball to hand situation if the ball hits their hand, but the players put their hand there knowingly to block the ball. That would be an easy handball offence decision form me, at least a caution and possibly a send off. Obviously I will be proactive in letting the players know before the free kick.

 

[Peter Grove]

Irrelevant......if the hand was already there before the ball was struck....it can only be "ball to hand"......where does it say the player is obliged to move their arm out of the way?

It doesn't, but then again it doesn't say that every time there is movement of the hand towards the ball, that it is automatically an offence, either. The law only says it's something to be considered.

In the same vein, the law also tells us to consider:

• the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)

For me, the not moving the hand away scenario falls under this second consideration. It is more usually expressed as meaning that if the ball has been struck (or deflected) from too close to the player and they didn't have time to react and get their hand out of the way even if they'd wanted to, it's not an offence. However if that is true then the logical corollary to it is that if the ball is coming from far enough away so that the player does have enough time to react and avoid the ball and they do not, then the referee is entitled to consider they have committed a deliberate act (that of maintaining their arm position) that leads to them making contact with the ball with the hand or arm. And a deliberate act that causes such contact, the law tells us, is an offence.

 

[Hoosier Ref]

Maybe i need to read the book again! Only passed the exam recently...

I would recommend reading the book FREQUENTLY as well as interpretations. Mastery of the knowledge of the laws will aide you greatly in their application, your confidence level, and game control. I have played for 40 years, coached for 6 or so and refereed for 3 now. You should be the expert on the laws at the field. You will find that MOST players lack knowledge of the LOTG. They all THINK they know and older players (and many coaches) have an understanding based upon older versions of the LOTG that have changed.