Question Number: 34202

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 4/20/2021

RE: Adult

Engin Ataman of OLYMPIA, WA United States asks...

https://tr.beinsports.com/haber/dg-sivasspor-besiktas

25 seconds in, ball vs hand contact. No penalty was given but social media exploded debating if it should be given a penalty. What is your take on this instance. Thank you as always.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Engin,
looks pretty innocuous to me, trying to pull his hand away. I am ok with no call. If we call this a foul then might as well call any contact between the ball and hand a foul given we already call accidental handling on the opposition if it's advantageous.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Engin
The great handling debate has been and it will be with us for a very long time.

Despite recent efforts by IFAB, the law governing body, handling decisions in these situations are still a matter of opinion.
In this case the referee decided that there was no deliberate handling. I do not know if VAR was available or not yet even if it was in my opinion it was not changed the decision of it not being deliberate handling and therefore no offence.

My reasons for that opinion are based on the video
# The defender's arms are in a natural position and he has not intentionally made himself "bigger" for the intention of stopping the ball.
# He does not move his arm towards the ball to stop it or move it.
# The ball comes from a short distance so he has no chance to react in any way which includes avoiding the ball.

As to social media reaction that is never a good judgment location. One side will say it is not handling while the other will say that it is. Neutrals may be equally divided based on an uninformed opinion.
Later on in the game the ball appears to hit the arm of a Red defender at a corner. Again if it hit him on the arm below the shoulder area above the elbow or lower arm it would not be handling as it was not a deliberate.
This is what Law 12 tells us
"" It is an offence if a player:
# deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, including moving the hand/arm towards the ball
# scores in the opponents’ goal directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper
# after the ball has touched their or a team-mate’s hand/arm, even if accidental, immediately:
# scores in the opponents’ goal
# creates a goal-scoring opportunity
touches the ball with their hand/arm when:
# the hand/arm has made their body unnaturally bigger
# the hand/arm is above/beyond their shoulder level (unless the player deliberately plays the ball which then touches their hand/arm)""
In my opinion none or any of those conditions was met.