Question Number: 17093

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/4/2007

RE: Competitive High School

Andrea Kebort of Hartstown, Pa Crawfor asks...

The ball bounced up and hit one of our defensive players while she was in the box. The ref called a handball, he said it hit her hand, but she said it hit her in the chest. We lost the game on the penality kick that was awarded. this is a very subjective area from what I have seen over the years. My question is geared more toward the overall rule regarding handling of the ball. If your hands are at your side in a natural position and the ball bounces up and strikes your hand, is that a handball? I argued up and down with this guy from the other team. he says that whenever the ball strikes your shoulder, hand, or arm that it is automatically reason for a whistle! I disagree completely. Who is right? And where are the natural positions? what is an unnatural position? I am assuming over your head would be unnatural. can you elaborate?

thank you much.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Andrea,
Actually your take is pretty good. The correct term in law is "handles the ball deliberately". The simple act of a ball bouncing into the arm does NOT fit that definition at ALL! The ground, ball spin, wind, deflections can cause the ball to do most anything and go anywhere at times.
We are not mind readers in that we can judge what a player is thinking so his intentions could be unclear. The fundamental divergence of accidental and intentional with regards to a deliberate act is a referee can only make a decision on what he sees the player do! What the ball does is not part of the equation.
Much like deciding offside, we look at what the offside player ACTUALLY does not the decisions of the opponents
Handles the ball deliberately is judged on what a player ACTUALLY does not the decision of the ball to go multi directional!

Plenty of deliberate handlings are accidental in that the player did not want to do it but his actions towards the ball were either mistimed or seen as a deliberate movement of his arm towards the ball.

A good example is a player attempts to chest down a ball in the area but the swerve of the ball catches the outside part of the arm will likely be called as a penal foul even if he cries out "Crap I did not mean to do that! Many a ball catches chest and or a partial corner of shoulder or arm the referee sees penal foul, the player thinks he played it fairly guess whose opinion counts?

Now lets say a player trips, with arms flailing for balance and as he goes to ground an extend arm makes contact with the ball as it bounces crazily into the area. How deliberate was that arm coming in contact with that ball? We saw the fall, we know the arm flail has nothing to do with trying to play a ball and everything to do with breaking the fall. A refere ecan see and make a decision based on those observations. No foul, play continues.

A referee must make decisions based on intelligent observation and hopefully good positionin, We see the player trying to pull out and away then we could infer the contact is in fact accidental and not a foul. I recently had a defender try to intercept a crossed ball and realizing the swerve of the ball was taking it out further away then he was he leaned back, puling his arm across his face with the ball catching the tip of his elbow. Several of the opposition screamed for a foul I said, ?Not even close to deliberate! Play!?

In your scenario since we are not the referee for your match, he is a match condition and his word as an opinion on a fact of play is incontestable. That is not to say a mentor or assessor could not help him in foul recognition if they agreed with your assessment as to the reasonableness of seeing that contact as truly a deliberate act.

You are 100% correct to disagree with anyone who tries to perpetuate the myth that a ball striking the arm is a foul. I also think you grasp that the arms raised for balance and those raised to block or prevent something are readily identifiable. Arms are attached to the body and where the body goes so do the arms. The arms move as required to afford balance and power! A ball striking the arm is no different than a ball striking the head, face, butt, knee, back etc..

While a call that appears to be a no call is painful to endure try to remember that even if incorrect if it is applied the same for both teams as a match condition at least it is fair in it is equally wrong. Also foul recognition is an evolution of the character and experience of the referee. His transformation on the learning curve is no different then a player learning to kick ,dribble, pass or shoot. Only perfect practice makes perfect!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I wish we'd get away from this natural/unnatural arm position. Really we should be looking whether the arms were in a normal playing position. You don't usually see players running around with arms outstretched wide or above the head - that's not normal. Neither do we expect players to have their arms plastered against their sides - normally the arms are moving.

Deliberately handling the ball means one of two things. Either the player deliberately moved to the ball, or in the opinion of the referee the player had a chance to move out of the path of the ball and did not do so.

Many times when the ball bounces, it takes a weird hop and it is not possible to get the arm out of the way of the ball. Yet in your situation, you say the player said she played it with her chest. We just have a difference of opinion here - player says chest, ref says arm - guess who's opinion counts? Not seeing the play, we can't determine whether the bounce of the ball made the handling, or if the player's attempt to control the ball caused the handling - or even if there was any contact of ball and arm. The guy who was there, with the authority to make that decision, decided handling. On another day on another field with another referee, it might have been seen as not deliberate or no contact. You work with, or maybe sometimes you have to work around, the referee you have that day.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

If you are standing still and your arms are in a natural position and the ball bounces up and hits you in the hand is that a "handball"? Of course it is. That's why we NEVER use the term "handball" on this site when answering questions. What you mean to ask is: "is this deliberately handling the ball?" and the answer is no. That said, this is the most wrongly called foul in youth soccer. For some reason there appears to be a plethora of referees out there that think anytime hand and ball meet, there must be a foul.