France won the World Cup. A victory with a two goal margin is not very easy to contest. However, one very huge matter of contention was the application of the VAR in the biggest game of the tournament. France’s second goal was a result of a penalty culminating from a Perisic handball that was ruled so by VAR. The decision has been questioned and this prompts one to wonder what the fuss is all about. I mean, Perisic did touch the ball didn’t he? The introduction of Video Assistant Referees (VARs) at the 2018 World Cup certainly divided opinion at first. Infact, there is a huge possibility that it will be used in the Premier League in the coming season. Still, one of the game’s most fundamental rules remains extremely problematic: Handballs.
Consistent with other handballs in the tournament.The decision was, in all fairness, consistent with other handballs at the World Cup. Portugal’s Cedric Soares against Iran and Denmark’s Yussuf Poulsen against Australia were among the other players to suffer at the fate of referees who were punishing ball-to-hand incidents.The consistency however does not explain the decision-making. The rules do not state that the ball hitting an arm in the box constitutes an offence. In fact, the rules’ wording suggests that the penalties were harshly awarded.A whipped free-kick from the right saw Ivan Perisic face the music as VAR concluded that he had handled the ball. Referee Nestor Pitana consulted with VAR before making the decision but in all honesty, the call could hardly be labelled as clear-cut.
The decision resulted in the penalty that was carefully executed by Antoine Griezmann.Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm. The following must be considered:The movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
The distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball) The position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an offence.Touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard, etc.) is an offence Hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard, etc.) is an offence
The goalkeeper has the same restrictions on handling the ball as any other player outside the penalty area. Inside their penalty area, the goalkeeper cannot be guilty of a handling offence incurring a direct free kick or any related sanction but can be guilty of handling offences that incur an indirect free kick.
If those rules are to go by, then it only means that the World Cup referees were consistently enforcing a rule that does not currently exist. Perhaps an alteration to the rules could solve the problem.Two arguments could be argued out rather convincingly. The rule states the handball has to be intentional. Perisics was not. Infact, there was no France player behind him so Croatia was at no advantage.The second argument is that Perisic deliberately handled the ball by using his arms to make himself bigger with a chance of preventing the ball to get past him. The bottonline is that the rule is not clear. The Football Association has to decide whether to punish ALL handballs or only DELIBERATE handballs could face the punishment.