IFAB's LATEST HANDBALL LAW: CLARIFICATION OR CLIMBDOWN?

Hante Haziran 27, 2022

A moment from the 135th IFAB AGM: from left to right - FIFA Technical Adviser Arsene Wenger, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, FIFA Referees Cttee President Pierluigi Collina and FIFA Referees Cttee Director, Massimo Busacca / Picture: FIFA.com

by Chuk Uju

(Former London FA Referee)

LONDON, England. The International FA Board (IFAB) met on 5 March to discuss law amendments for the coming season; the most notable law change concerns the handball law which has now been amended for the third time in as many seasons. IFAB display a misplaced sense of humour by labelling this law change as a 'clarification,' and by their explanation of the reason for the change i.e. because "....the interpretation of handball incidents has not always been consistent due to incorrect applications of the Law;" IFAB should perhaps show a little more humility: the reason why referees have struggled to apply the handball law over the past two seasons is that it has become increasingly incoherent. If you need to change a law three times in as many seasons then it is obviously a very bad law!

Accidental handball by a player which results in him scoring a goal remains an offence, however, if the ball is accidentally handled in the build-up to a goal by a player who is not the goalscorer then the pre-2019/20 position applies. The surreal question of whether a player's arms are in a 'natural position', irrespective of the realities of biomechanics, has also been consigned to the dustbin of bad football laws. IFAB has now explained that you should only penalise a player who deliberately makes himself 'unnaturally bigger,' i.e. the result of IFAB's 'clarification' is to return this part of the handball to the pre- 2019/20 position. The French say it best: 'plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose (the more things change, the more they stay the same)!'

The 'T-shirt line' determines both handball and offside offences /
Picture: The IFAB

The other law change which has caught my eye is the extension of the notion of the so-called 'T-shirt line' in determining whether a player is in an offside position. The 'T-shirt line', pictured, is an example of mission creep by VAR. The size of a football's circumference is such that it is very difficult for referees to determine whether the ball has struck above or below the 'T-shirt line' even with the assistance of VAR; I am therefore uncomfortable about the extension of this concept to the already fraught offside law. There is also a larger issue which was well articulated by the Fulham manager, Scott Parker, after their recent match against Spurs: "We're trying to make the game so pure and sterile and trying to control every single moment to an absolute tee...what you want to see is goals, excitement and I'm sorry to say that VAR is killing every bit of it." IFAB would do well to heed these wise words.