Players up in arms

Premier League asking for changes to handball law

LONDON: The English Premier League is asking football’s lawmakers to allow more flexibility and leniency for referees assessing handballs after being told by players and managers that the current regulations are too harsh.

England’s top division has fielded complaints after a number of incidents in the opening rounds of the season, including that Eric Dier should not have conceded a penalty for Tottenham against Newcastle on Sunday when a ball came off his outstretched, raised arm.

Despite facing away from the ball, Dier was penalised because his arm was adjudged to be in an unnatural position after jumping to challenge Andy Carroll for the ball.

The penalty – awarded after a VAR review – allowed Callum Wilson to score and secure a 1-1 draw for Newcastle in stoppage time at Tottenham.

“You cannot jump without your hands,” Dier told the BBC. “You cannot defend without using your arms to balance and move so it is what it is.”

Premier League referees, though, have to abide by the laws of the game formulated by the International Football Association Board.

A clarification to the handball law in 2019 stated that hands or arms cannot make a players’ “body unnaturally bigger”.

The Premier League’s Professional Game Match Officials body hope the Laws of the Game could be updated and will ask IFAB for greater latitude.

Six of the 20 penalties awarded in the opening three rounds of the season have been for handball.

The Premier League has already responded to criticism by encouraging referees to soften their interpretation of handballs while still working within the spirit of the Laws of the Game.

According to a presentation shared within the Premier League, referees have now been told to consider the expected position of the arm – rather than just being outside the body line – when determining whether a handball should be penalised.