The Bayern v Man City game was a cracking game of football last night. However, the two penalties were ridiculous. Does anyone understand why the old rule of 'intent' has been abandoned? Two penalties were awarded for unintentional handball. The first was against the Bayern defender, who, I think, also got booked for the offence. He even went into the task of defending with his hands behind his back. The second was when the ball flew up from a tackle. As it happened, the two penalties didn't affect the result, but what if the Champions League Final was decided on a penalty resulting from unintentional handball? I assume it won't be long before forwards, particularly wingers running into the box, practise flicking the ball up at the arms of defenders to win penalties. They are probably already doing this in training. Surely, we don't want that to happen. Can we have the old rule back, please, and trust referees to get it right nine times out of ten?
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The final part is why the wording around unantural position was added as a descriptive term to the laws. Typical that it was misunderstood by refs and football authorities themselves. Rather than be specific the laws made things ambiguous, probably to save a few words in the description. Totally stupid and common sense is needed. Other sports really show football up in this area, as well as applying technology.
1994, new rule created to keep the game flowing. The wording and intent was clear, players would have to leave the pitch (if possible) BEFORE receiving treatment. Referees decide that means the players get treated on the pitch as before, thus still holding the game up, and then you force them to leave the pitch for an indeterminate amount of time because nothing is fairer than reducing the fouled against team to 10 men.
6 second rule, apart from poor Andy Petterson getting blown up around 6.1 seconds after catching the ball, it's a rule that referees have unilaterally decided they don't have to apply. Once when we were in the prem I actually kept a record during a game. The Aston Villa keeper Scott Oakes held on to the ball for at least 13 seconds every time he handled the ball throughout the game.
Foul throws, there are some absolutely terrible throws in the professional game and the vast majority are taken miles from where they should be (so technically a foul throw), officials do literally nothing to combat this. Felt sorry for Mario Melchiott in a game against us at The Valley. Pretty much every throw he took first half was a foul through, the ball not coming from fully behind the head, or a foot being raised, or some other element of the throw being incorrect. Didn't get pulled up at any stage. Second half he get punished for his first throw, which might have been a foul throw, but was probably his most legal throw of the day up to that point. Having seen there's a foul throw issue in the game FIFA decided rather than making the rules clearer, or getting officials to ensure throws were taken from the correct spot, no, the important change FIFA made was that rather than both feet being ON or BEHIND the line, they now just needed to be ON the line and could therefore be on the pitch as long as part of the foot touched the line.
I could go on an on, the rules of the game aren't clear enough, the authorities don't care enough, and the officials simply don't know or care about the rules actually being applied correctly.
On a related not VAR is pointless if the same officials who don't understand or apply the rules are running the system.
Sometimes i really dislike this sport. the way players fake injuries and the way refs seem to be conned by alot of it. It's almost as if refs have never watched or played the game. I know they are just doing their job and the players antics put pressure on them to give certain decisions but it just seems like common sense is completely alien to them.
But stupidly the FA didn't follow through with that so in the end we had, like you said, players being treated ON the pitch before having to go off to come back on again.
Mad.
As for handball I totally agree. Done my head on on Monday evening when Liverpool scored their 2nd after a player clearly moved his arm towards the ball to control it. It might have been reactional or instinctive but it lead to.a goal. Apparently VAR didnt get involved as it didnt DIRECTLY lead to a goal......but about 5 seconds later it did 🙄.
Debated with my son about this & I think it should be black or white. Either ANY time ball hits the hand it's an infringement- penalty or free kick......or nothing happens & ball hitting hand is just treated like any other part of the body.
Current laws are a farce.
The guy started with his hands behind his back but by the time the ball reached him, his hand was out & wide of his torso. The ball hit his hand, deflecting it away from the intended shot location.
The defender probably didn't mean to get his hand in the way, but his actions have cost the attacking team a potential goal and IMO awarding a penalty is the correct decision.
Intentional vs unintentional handball is a bit odd, like saying a foul shouldn't be a foul if the defender didn't intend to bring the opposition player down.
Keep your hands and arms tucked closely into your torso and you shouldn't be penalised - the rule can't get much more black and white than that.
It may have been instinctive but he should have just kept it where it was & it wouldn’t have been a pen 🤷♀️
The whole defending with hands behind the back is a nonsense. I can't stand seeing it. It's terrible defending to restrict your movement with an unnatural running style. What if the ball hits the hand behind the back? To me that's the most unnatural position your hand could possibly be in but now referees treat it as natural. The whole thing is absurd.
The penalty to Bayern was just next level stupidity. It really makes you wonder what the point is any more....and the cherry on top was the always reliable Peter Walton, there to make a case for the referee. Generally if Peter Walton agrees with the decision, you know it's ludicrous except to a pen pushing melt in the referee association who spends the weekend pouring over literal interpretations of the law and telling everyone with self righteous confidence that it was the 'correct decision' as if they are law.
And if it were that difficult it’s amazing how geezers manage to keep their hands locked to their Crown Jewels when a free kicks being taken 🤷♀️🙄🤣🤣