Question Number: 17310

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/14/2007

RE: 3 Adult

John Baltutis of Belleville, ON Canada asks...

This question is a follow up to question 17223

Follow Up to question 17223:

a player is running down the field, and the ball boucnes and hit his hand, hand ball or not?
a player jumps to try to stop a DFK, and the ball hits his protected chest, hand ball or not??
Yes their is a endless supply of scenarios, but the question still remains. If it is a accidental ball to the hand, do you call the hand ball??
I see a lot of this and I will keep the play going, right or wrong??
I will follow your over all recomendations.
thanks again
John B

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

John, it is always the referee's opinion regarding whether the ball has been handled deliberately that matters. If the ball bounces up and hits the hand of a player who is running, the chances that it was deliberate are pretty close to nil, but you were there - decide. A player jumping to stop a DFK will not usually have their hands in such a position, and unless they are very young or very inexperienced, the chances are excellent that it qualifies as a deliberately handled ball - but you are there, decide. If it is accidental contact, it is not deliberate. Enough said. Caveat for that scenario - sometimes what starts as accidental can become deliberate - so we must watch and wait to see. For example, the ball bounces up and hits a player in his upper arm and shoulder area quite by accident. But, the player continues the contact deliberately and controls the ball down to his feet - now we've crossed over into deliberate. You do see a lot of ball to hand and you should keep the play going as nothing will generally have happened to require a decision that it was deliberate not accidental. Hand to ball? Well, now you should be thinking deliberate. Go with your gut instinct - it seems to be well informed. Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

John, was this not covered in your referee certification course?

The offense is "deliberately handles the ball". That means the player deliberately put her hand in a position to be struck by the ball, or deliberately did not move the hand out of the way when it could be seen that the ball was going to strike her. Accidents are just that, accidents, not deliberate handling.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

There is a very good book on Fairplay called For the good of the game by Ed Bellion and Bob Evans. In it they discuss a long ball to a lone defender, nearest attacker thirty yards away the defender attempts to chest trap a ball on a single bounce when the ball hits the ground it catches a small depression and bounces up into his arm. Yes he deliberately attempted to play the ball with his chest but what is deliberate in a funny bounce off the ground?
It is easy to get caught up in intentional, accidental and deliberate as a confusing bunch of what ifs.
Instead ask yourself what did the ball do?
Was there anything the player did to cause the ball to do what it did?
What did the player do?
Was there anything the ball did that caused the player to do what he did?
Is the fact a ball spins sideways off a clump of grass really have anything to do with what the player did?

The ball will often contact the hand or arm just as it will the head, back, middrift, calf, side, hip, butt or any part of the body that gets in the way. Did the arms /hand get in the way of the ball via a deliberate action by the player or did the player deliberately try to redirect the ball after it accidently got there?

As an opinion it will be Your match, your decision, your reputation Try to be consistant and train those around you not to self medicate by using the fact that although most times a ball strikes the arm rather than the arm strikes the ball into thinking they can put their arms where the ball will strike them as long as they do not move them when the ball hits them. If they have time to wait until a ball gets there, get the arms out of the way. If the ball bounces weird and then hits those arms which were not waiting to be hit there is no foul!
I always ask myself when I see the ball and arm come into contact was it the ball's fault or was it the player's fault? I pick and live with the consequences.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Well John, as a referee you should NEVER EVER call a "handball". If you d0n't want to go to the trouble of saying deliberately handling the ball at least call it a handling violation. You answer your own question, if it's an accident and unavoidable, how can it be deliberate?