Soccer should consider changing rule on hand balls
When it comes to the game of soccer, everybody in the United States has always begged for goals, goals and more goals.
Yesterday afternoon, I found a not-so-unusual case where there may have been one too many goals when the River Hill girls soccer team came away with a 1-0 win over Wilde Lake.
The goal came on a first-half penalty kick and there was no dispute the referee made the right call. A ball was sent inside the penalty area, it took an unexpected bounce off the turf and the result was an unintentional hand ball by a Wilde Lake defender. The ball was not directed on goal or anywhere near the goal and no advantage was gained by the Wildecats leading up to the whistle.
But rules are rules and this one makes no sense to me. There was no scoring opportunity when the hand ball took place, but the end result was the best scoring chance of all -- a penalty kick which River Hill's Kathryn Rodgers did well to finish off.
While baseball, football, basketball and other sports have constantly made rule changes to improve their respective games, soccer -- the world's game -- rarely budges.
This commentary was brought to you by a lifelong defender who will continue to otherwise stick up for the fine sport of soccer!
-- Glenn Graham
Comments
The Ref erred - He should not have awared the PK - He could have given an indirect free kick or better yet let play continue. The hand ball was unintentional
Posted by: Malcolm Bryan | September 24, 2008 2:06 PM
Interesting article but it sounds like the ref blew the call. I am a USSF certified referree and do many High School games. If there was no intent to handle the ball no hand ball should of been called.
Posted by: Stephen "Mitre" Craig | September 24, 2008 2:26 PM
IWithout wishing to be demeaning, but if you study the history and rules of soccer you will find that they have evolved drastically over the past century.
Posted by: Malcolm Bryan | September 24, 2008 2:30 PM
USSF has a position paper on how to call the rule:
http://images.ussoccer.com/Documents/cms/ussf/doc_6_269.pdf
Unfortunately it's not consistently called this way.
Posted by: Bill B | September 24, 2008 3:09 PM
I slightly agree, but I'd say this one was more about the ref's decision than the rule itself, based on your description. He could have ruled the contact incidental, ruled that the ball played the hand rather than vice-versa, or "decided" that he saw it differently. Happens all the time. The rule itself has enough wiggle already that all but the most blatant violations are subject to some amount of interpretation.
Then again, I play striker...
Posted by: Jim | September 24, 2008 3:58 PM
Couldn't agree more. At the most, cases like these should be indirect free kicks in the box.
Posted by: jd | September 24, 2008 6:20 PM
Can't think of a way to make it indirect in the box within the rules. It's a PK or it's not a foul.
Posted by: Bill B | September 25, 2008 7:57 AM
The handball call against Wilde Lake was bad officiating. There should have been no call made. The same official missed a handball call in the box that could have gone against River Hill. Inconsistency is a sign of a poor ref. If I were the Wilde Lake coach, I would request that he not ref another Wilde Lake game, especially an important one.
Posted by: rick belz | September 26, 2008 1:59 AM
Actually, I've had unintentional hand balls in the box called as indirect free kicks before, or as direct free kicks placed right on the edge of the 18.
Posted by: jd | September 28, 2008 10:48 AM
I referee soccer in Pennsylvania, so I don't know what set of rules govern Maryland games (USSF, FIFA, or NFHS). But under NFHS--National Federation of High Schools-- there is no such thing as a "hand ball".
I can hear you all now: "WHAT?" Under NFHS, the contact of the ball with a player's hand or arm is not a foul unless the official deems that the contact was deliberate, or that the player's hand was in an "unnatural" position (above his/her head, stretched out to the side, etc.)
In that case, the foul is called "handling", not a "hand ball".
Regardless, Maryland officials need more training in order to get a consistent interpretation, it seems.
Posted by: Brian | November 1, 2008 11:44 AM
It shouldn't have been a call at all- unintentional but look at this and tell me what you think of this rule change which in my opinion would be great-Keeper should only be able to use there hands inside the 6
Posted by: brendan | November 28, 2008 8:50 PM