NinjaFletch
Full Member
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- Sep 30, 2009
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As bad a mistake as it was, am I the only one who thinks that technically it shouldn't have been a penalty?
FIFA's Laws of the Game say "Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm." Lindelof's handball did not look deliberate at all.
His arm was high and away from his body, but it looks like he was doing that to keep his balance rather than to intentionally touch the ball. Indeed, the Laws of the Game say that "the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an offence."
I'm not surprised the referee gave a penalty as they often do in these situations (when the handball is unintentional but clumsy). However, it seems there's a clear disconnect between what's written in the rules and what's enforced in practice when it comes to handballs.
This debate happens every time there's a handball and I fully agree with your interpretation that to the letter of the law this isn't a penalty (probably); no player would deliberately kick the ball into their own arm.
The problem is that it's so well conditioned that it should be a penalty that it being given as one is completely uncontroversial.
The law needs to be rewritten to remove the language that necessitates referees be mind readers, and then we can scrap all of the bollocks interpretations that go with it.