Handball

For there t be a handling offense, the contact has to be deliberate. Often, if the ball is slammed into an opponent's arm at close range, a ref will decide that the contact was not deliberate and not call the foul.

 

When the referee says it is!


It boils down to the OPINION of the referee his match, his decision, his reputation!
Slow motion replay is not an option on the field of play!
It is a fleeting moment of fate, a quick heartbeat and you make a call or no call based on what you belive to be correct.
It is an OPINION of the referee in that match, on that day that the contact was either initiated deliberately by the player towards the ball or is a result of the movement of the ball towards the arm.
A ball contacting the arm is no different than a ball striking any body part as part of natural play.
The fact we watching have different opinions only means if we were refereeing we might not make that call because we see it differently

 

In high-level games such as professional matches, referees are going to be a lot less liberal in what they consider "deliberate." At that level, players are expected to know how the ball typically bounces and should get their hands out of the way. As a result, a ball striking the hand is a lot more likely to be whistled.

For amateur and youth games, though, knowledgable referees are more likely to let play continue because they know players just aren't skilled enough to know where their arms are.

 

As was said, it is all ITOOTR, (and the referee is always right).

I had an incident a couple of weekends ago in an select tournament where, on a corner kick, the ball came into the goal area and was headed down by a defender. The ball struck the arm of an attacker who was about 4 feet in front of goal, but facing away from the ball. After striking the attacker on the arm, the ball went directly into the goal.

IMO, there was no way the attacker could have known the ball was going to strike his arm or prevented it from doing so, and no way he could have deliberately redirected the ball illegally using his arm. I pointed to the center circle and ordered the kick-off. Of course, there was plenty of commotion and pleas for the handling offense, but to no avail. There is just no handling without intent.

In U-little games, if you stopped the game every time the ball made contact with a child's upper appendages, there would be no game. There are enough stoppages just from the ball going over the boundry lines. Unless the child reaches out and swats at the ball or grabs it, there is no handling.

 

It's been a constant theme here for the past 48 hours. I can't remember the last time so many handballs, and most of them blatent, were missed in one matchday! Pascal Cygan in the Charlton vs Arsenal match, John Terry AND Zat Knight in the Chelski vs Fulham game, Nolberto Solano in the Liverpool vs Everton game, and Milan Baros in the Aston Villa vs Everton game!

And every one of them was, IMO, a deliberate handball. Cygan's would have lead to a Charlton penalty, as would Terry and Knights (tho to Chelski and Fulham obviously ), Solano's would have lead to a Liverpool penalty and RC, and Baros' lead to a goal for Villa.

All in all, not a great day for English refereeing - especially given the refs involved.

 

Amen. Graham Poll had a really bad day, but at least he missed them in both directions (Knight and Terry).

 

as long as he is consistantly calling things for both teams.....

 

Back to the original question on this post, as a guideline, whenever in the opinion of the referee the handling was deliberate or avoidable. One expects players to avoid handling the higher the level of play. That said, it's my contention, and local assessors I've spoken with agree, that handling is the most wrongly called foul in youth soccer. One of the other posters mentioned how many whistles there would be at U littles if every time the ball hit the arm it was called. I see hundreds of handling calls weekly when I watch youth soccer and it's becoming a problem. Routinely I'll see a player running away from the ball, back turned, ball hits back of artm and the whistle blows immediately. It seems many referees have the same understanding as parents. Ball hits arm, must be a foul. When working with younger referees it's one of the things I go over and over with. Gotta be deliberate or avoidable or don't blow the whistle.

 

i do a lot of youth soccer games, especially U-10. i agree with an earlier post about not calling every physical touch. deliberate [basketball grab] yes. but ones where a young kid tries to protect face, especially with braces, no. and when i do high school, i let the girls get by with more, especially when a cannon shot is aimed at the 'uhmm' chest area. later in life, some of those girls will pay heavily for damage now. i don't want to be responsible.
i always put myself in the players place and if i could not have avoided the ball hitting my arm [because it traveled so fast in a short space], no call. when a player reaches out for the ball, i nail him/her, regardless of age!
rod

 

You are on the right track. The ATR specifically tells you not to punish defensive handling.

 

sounds right to me, especially the part about letting kids defend themselves, especially girls. That's consistent with the Advice and the way I was taught. Too many people are just mechanical (ball touches arm? handling.) And you're also right, if a kid obviously reaches out for the ball, call it. If kids are real young, and I see them waving their arms about, I'll tell them to watch out/be careful/don't touch the ball with your hands or arms.

 

You will almost always ref a game where cries for "handball" are all around. However, there are at least two things you should remember when judging whether a player is guilty of deliberately handling the ball. 1) Did the player deliberately handle the ball?; and 2) your opinion is what counts.

This is one of those where you really can't go wrong, as the law states it is "in the opinion of the referee." A great presentation that I had at my recert was given by Mr. Samir Yasa, Indiana's State Youth Referee Administrator. He said that very, very little of what you actually see is a "handball." Then, he gave 2 demonstrations. In number 1, he assumed a trapping position with his biceps/triceps on his chest and his arm making an L. He then handled the ball, but said this was not deliberately handling as it was an accepted position. However, for number 2, he assumed the same position but this time used his arms to propel the ball into the air. Number 2, Mr. Yasa said, would be deliberately handling the ball.

 

Sounds reasonable.



G18, D1 match. Defender in the PA gets a ball in the gut and instinctively grabs it. I'm thinking, "Nothing there. Just let it go."

Then she looks at the ball in her hands, shrieks, and throws it 20 feet into the air. "Tweet!".

The 'keeper is in a fetal position on the goal line. Now I'm worried as to how she got injured so I run over to see if she's okay. She's doubled over with laughter.

 

That is a mistake you can see it you have to try and get out of the way of it.

 

Golden story. I once had a guy in a coed adult game get a ball hammered up under his arm and pinned against his body in the penalty area. EVERYONE stopped playing. He walked over to the spot and put the ball down. I was so stunned I dont think I ever blew the whistle.

 

Good one. I had a U-16, without ARs, defender in the area handled--I couldn't see it due to the angle, but virtually everyone else did. He did something similar--stopped, picked the ball up, and tossed it gently to me for the PK.

 

Someone said - I think on this board - that if you never called handling again, you'd be right 90% of the time.

 

I can't take credit for saying that, but I'd say you'd be a lot more correct than incorrect.

Problem that all of us have though is that it's been called so wrong for so long that you have to be ready for a ton of abuse when you mature to the point of wanting to make the call properly for the good of the game.

Scott