Question Number: 32732

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 9/20/2018

RE: Adult

john scar of adelaide, sa Australia asks...

When in the penalty box a defender crosses his arms in a X formation in front of his chest in a protective manner so as to soften the impact of the ball coming directly at his chest, penalty or no penalty? Please note the shot is directly on goals.
When refereeing my rule of thumb is the arms must remain firmly against the defender's sides with no wrist movement & for me the example given is a penalty.
To take it one step further also what about a freekick just outside the penalty box,the defenders 10 yards inside the box setup their wall. When kick is taken & it hits the back of defenders hands cupping his groin area, penalty or no penalty?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
This will look like handling as the player has moved his arms up to make contact with the ball. Now we know that some females do this for protection yet many referees see it as an action to assist in playing the ball and therefore deliberate handling. It really is no different than a player raising their arms to assist in charging down a ball.
In a free kick situation once the arms are already placed low for protection purposes I would not see it as deliberate handling. The arms were already in position with no movement after the kick is taken. Same would apply to hands placed over the groin at a free kick. No handling if the ball hits the already placed arms.
It also will look like that the ball will have hit the body had it not hit the protective arm. What should not be allowed though is where a player makes himself bigger by having his arms up at his head and jumping up. That is deliberate handling as the arms have verb used to make theolayer bigger and to assist in playing the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi John,
If it was an instinctive reaction to protect his face from say a close in, fast, no time to get out of the way shot, I might allow it, if it was only to play the ball off his chest that could be played with other body parts it would be deliberate handling. We cut the woman some slack as their breast area is on par with our groin area as a sensitive spot but for me the matter is timing, speed and awareness. If you have time to camp under a ball you have time to move out of the way or choose a different way to play that ball.
If a player in a wall set a hand across the forehead & cupped one at groin level that is fine. The player is NOT bigger and a ball struck at the arm at either location would have hit the body mass anyway. As long as the arm is not pushed forward to knock it back or raised wider or higher to block an area of space .

But lets be a bit reasonable for a ball delivered directly into a player moving forward, an instinctive arm moment or arms in front of the body that get struck by a fast moving ball that do not ward the ball away just simply no time or an instinctive protection to the face or groin given that the ball was NEVER getting by the body mass thus no way was a goal going to occur I find it harsh to award a PK or a DFK for something as benign as that. Lets award free kicks for the deliberate stuff, not the no way to get out of the way stuff.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi John,
At adult level, I would expect players to know how to chest the ball and be comfortable doing so. That being the case, unless the ball had been deflected forcefully and unexpectedly from close distance leading to an instinctive reaction (and especially when you posit the scenario of a male player) I would be inclined to see it as a deliberate handling offence to move the arms up and across the chest in this way. I might be prepared to give a little more leeway to younger female players but again, probably not to adults.

I coached youth players for many years and we taught all players, male and female, how to safely and effectively chest the ball. So by the time a player is an adult, my feeling is that virtually any player, regardless of sex, should be able to either chest the ball or move out of the way - except perhaps (as mentioned) with an 'unexpected ball.'

I'm not sure I agree with the idea that 'the arms must remain firmly against the defender's sides with no wrist movement' - that strikes me as too restrictive. Players can't run around with their arms pinned to their sides all the time, it would be unnatural and absurd to do so. The arms can normally and legitimately show a whole range of movement as far as I'm concerned and unless the arms are deliberately moved so as to initiate contact with the ball or left in the path of the ball when they could have been moved out of the way, they can quite feasibly be in positions away from the body without it being an offence.

In your second scenario, if a player in a wall is protecting their groin area and does not move their hand/arms towards the ball after it is struck, I would probably be unlikely to penalise the player.