08-09-2025, 06:57 PM
(08-09-2025, 11:38 AM)Josh1873 Wrote: The handball rule has always been confusing to me. As I understand it now, if your arm/hand is in an unnatural position it's a foul.
When players put their hands to the side, or behind their back, is that not an unnatural position? Nobody runs or stands like that. But if it's seen that the player is hiding their hands/arms and the ball hits them there, it's not a pen!
It's a difficult rule to police and interpret, really. I've seen the incident, it's harsh in the sense I don't think the Blues player meant to handle it, but it is a penalty by the laws.
Arms are part of your body, the ball will hit them occasionally. I'm not sure that should be a foul, or at least be rewarded with a pen. Could we not introduce a free kick inside the box, similar to what happens when a pass back occurs? I think conceding a pen for these incidents is OTT.
I've been saying this for ages. These rules mean games are often being decided arbitrarily imo. In trying to remove the subjective when it comes to hanbdball decisions, they've opened up a whole new damaging issue. Players having to force themselves to defend with their arms unnaturally behind their back in case the ball accidentally hits one of them, while in the meantime players still get to pull players shirts in the box at free-kicks and corners with virtual impunity, when enforcing the law as it should be would easily eliminate these fouls overnight. It's farcical.