Question Number: 28973

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/12/2014

RE: club Under 16

Russ of Augusta, GA USA asks...

Referee Discretion.

How can you ask a ref to explain her / his plan for accidental / non-advantage giving hand ball calls?

And - why is it a disadvantage for defenders / advantage for attackers that know how to intentionally chip / poke a ball at a defender's hand when battling in the box? What about the players that are simply trying to 'cut down a tree' and kick through the defending player? What defending tips can be taught to defenders to avoid these types of hand balls and the resulting pk?

Why any call when a ball hits a defender's hand / arm and it is accidental / non-advantage giving? What are refs taught to think about when processing their discretion in these situations?

Finally - pk with no yellow or red card given? Why not a spot foul vs pk if ref's discretion is no card is warranted?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russ
Deliberate handling is probably the most difficult call that the referee will have to deal with in a game. On previous answers I mentioned the notion of a scale from absolutely certain handling at 10 where the player reaches out and moves the ball to a 1 where the player does not see a ball and it bounces up hitting him on the hand. In between we have the grey area of the ball making contact with the hand and the referee having to decide if the players actions were to make himself bigger or a natural hand position that the ball just happened to hit.
In Europe referees are advised to consider the following
Was it a hand to ball situation or ball to hand?
# Are the player's hands or arm in a "natural" position?
# Should the player take the consequences of having his hand or arms lifted high?
# Does the player try to avoid the ball striking his hand?
# Is the player able to avoid the ball striking his hand?
# Does he use his hand or arm to intentionally touch the ball?
Now I'm don't subscribe to the camp that players have the ability to play the ball at the defenders hand. It has been suggested as a tactic but as yet I have not seen it. For most referees if the ball is kicked at a defender from close range and it hits a hand in a natural position that is not deliberate handling and it should not be called. I have seen a growing trend of players placing their arms behind their back when facing an opponent. That is not a natural balanced position. Okay it helps the referee as the ball to hand is unlikely and the referee does not have to make a call.
As regards disciplinary action at a penalty kick the referee should consider the circumstances. Some times it will just be a penalty kick only for a careless foul. Other times the foul can be reckless, deliberate and tactical which are cautions and other times the foul denied a goal or goal scoring opportunity or excessive force was used in which case it is a red card. So referees have discretion. I had two penalties in my game at the weekend and neither merited a card as both were silly careless fouls that need not have happened.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

My experience is that most calls for deliberate handling of the ball in amateur play are wrong. This is because the players act like they have touched a sacred relic when the arm is touched by the ball; players, coaches and fans scream and shout whenever there is contact with the ball, and never complain when handling is called (since they saw the conduct.) It becomes easy for the timid referee to call everything.

The foul is deliberate handling of the ball. It is the primary reason that soccer split from rugby because in rugby they wanted to be able to catch and throw the ball. Now, that is deliberate!
So, what should a referee look for: deliberate action to control the ball. As players get crafty, however, they learn to place their arms very wide and very high to make themselves 'bigger.' When I extend my arms, my tactic is to hope the ball hits it. I control the ball by where I placed my arm initially. The really clever players can control a ball that was initially an incidental contact (referees watch how they move their elbow).

An incidental contact usually occurs when the ball is hit very sharply from close range, and the opponent cannot get out of the way. With very young players, they also move the arm to protect sensitive areas from injury (groin, face, and for young women, chests). This reflexive action is based on a desire to protect, not control the ball. It is not a foul even if the ball drops to an advantageous position.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

I agree with my colleague Ref Wickham assertion about DHs at the amateur level but will even go further and say almost half of calls for or against deliberate handling in professional play are as wrong as any I see at park level.

Unfortunately you are at the mercy of the ability of the referee to correctly identify and ignore or punish whatever it is he thinks he sees!
One can only hope the referee will be consistent in his enforcement of the criteria for DH as fair to both teams. The DH foul, be you good or bad at reading the deliberacy of the actions, it is easier to be consistent with, than if foul recognition of contact incidents is poor, benefiting a more physical team by not punishing them or punishing them far too much for trying to play a contact sport without contact.

In my opinion deliberate handling and offside are both non calls unless I am 100% certain the criteria is met! If I have doubt, I make NO call and live with the results. The criteria for deciding if deliberate handling has occurred is subjective to the angle of view a referee has at the time and yet from full on ten yards away I constantly see referee decisions that simply befuddle me! In my opinion if we are debating it was or it wasn't, then it isn't!

I interviewed several pro players , non pro men and women and assorted youth as to their take on the number of DH calls against them and what portion they honestly believed they were guilty of deliberately handling the ball. I asked them to think carefully if they understood the criteria and even explained many of the criteria by which we are to judge their actions. LESS than 35% across ALL Levels. Only a few had it at about 50% most around 25%. Does this indicate we as referees know more about what is deliberate than they themselves account for their own actions ? If this informal pool is at all true then I hold the opinion that much of the blame lies with the players themselves for their constant screaming for a call at every ball to hand or hand to ball incident with equal ferocity and no real clue either way. While it is a bit different than pure simulation as in a dive to trick the referee, looking for a dfk or pk EVERY TIME a ball and hand make contact is encouraging the referee to just make the easy whistle sound to stop the bellyaching. Perhaps we should rename this particular DFK offence as, illegal play, citing the control exhibited as reason to call it? This is of course not a reality but as in the recent offside deflection, save, deliberate play mess currently underway in the MLS that makes no sense, why should DH make any more sense?

The foul of DH has no careless reckless or excessive attached only
DID IT OCCUR?
If YES a DFK or PK if inside your penalty area
Was it tactical in nature?
If YES USB it is cautionable show a yellow card
Did it deny a goal or obvious goal scoring opportunity?
If YES show the red card and send off reducing the team by a player

I will pose this very controversial opinion as a fact.
Any deliberate handling by a player where he is unchallenged thus unaffected by any offside attacker and the DH action is NOT a save! This action could reset offside for the opposing team as it is a deliberately played ball! The ball is no longer last touched by a team mate and free for advantage to be played in THEIR favor by the very players who moments before, would have been guilty of an offside if they had in fact played this ball. The right for the previously offside players to continue the attack as opposed to be awarded a dfk for the DH is at the sole discretion of the referee. A deliberately handled ball, if the foul is called can NOT be a deflection or rebound unless it is a save, as by the very nature the action to award this foul MUST be seen in the eyes of the referee as a deliberate action.
Cheers

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 28986