Another exciting week of Premier League action and more controversy as usual. The Premier League is steaming towards an exciting conclusion. In this week’s column, we will focus on handballs in the build-up to goals and where and when the rule is applied.
Let us start with the definition of a handball:
It is an offence if a player:
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deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball.
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touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised.
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scores in the opponents’ goal:
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directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper.
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immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental.
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With this in mind let us dissect this weekend’s action.
The incident: Declan Rice wins the ball before releasing Lucas Paqueta who is fouled by Gabriel in the box. The ball hits Rice’s arm in the build-up the penalty stands.
This incident has two distinct parts that need to be addressed, the handball and the penalty incident.
Concerning the handball, Rice did not make his body bigger and the proximity from which the ball was played against him means that it was almost impossible for him to move his arm away in time. All this considered the handball element of the incident is negligible and was right to ignore.
The penalty incident itself is much more complicated. Gabriel is nowhere near the ball and Paqueta exaggerates the contact. I would even go as far as to say he engineers it but here is the issue for the referee and VAR because of how Gabriel slides in once the penalty is given it is unlikely to be overturned despite the exaggerated fall of Paqueta. When there is clearly contact a penalty is given, it is very rarely overturned, likewise when a penalty is not given, and the contact is considered exaggerated a penalty is usually not given.
For me, the penalty aspect is clearly subjective and there is no wrong decision but in terms of the Rice handball the referee absolutely made the right decision to not factor it in.
Liverpool’s opener against Leeds United had a similar controversy of a handball in the build up and again the rule was applied thusly.
Some fans have asked why Kai Havertz’s goal against Liverpool was disallowed but as the rule states:
- “scores in the opponents’ goal:
- directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper.
- immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental.”
This is one situation where the rules have been consistently and fairly applied over the weekend and the officials deserve credit for making the right decisions.