Handball Ref ! Penalty ! (Football in General)

Name: Zelig

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Product:	Football in General
Date:	28/06/01 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Less pressure on the referee

Disadvantages: More penalties

It's an all too familiar cry in football. The ball strikes the hand and the crowd scream at the referee then shout in derision when he ignores them. The debate is never about whether it was deliberate or not just simply the b****** in the black must be blind.

I tire, though, of hearing television commentators reviewing endless replays from endless angles at different speeds pontificating over whether he meant to stick his hand in the way or unlucky to get in the way of a 40-yard piledriver whilst stood on the goaline.

Why not just take out the need for debate by taking a leaf out of cricket's rulebook. If the ball hits the pad and the umpire thinks it would have hit the wicket then he's out. There's no debate as to whether he meant to stop the ball hitting his stumps by using his pad- he's out!

Using the same principle why not simply say the ball hits the defenders hand- Penalty! It doesn't matter if he meant to stick his hand in the way of the ball or not. If it flies up and strikes him unawraes that it's just bad luck. If a batsmen is decieved by an awkward delivery that hits a bump its just the same but he's still out.

In this way the only judgement the referee has to make is does the handball merit a red card, a yellow card or simply a "stern talking to". The team that gets the penalty won't be bothered as much if the defender only gets a warning as they would if they didn't get a penalty at all.

It may not enamour the officials completely to the fans or the team but it would surely take away some of the pressure from the increasingly under-fire officials.

Summary: