Hand ball vs. Handling the ball

(This is my effort to get some blogging/commentary from the parents.)

You see it happen a lot. We saw it happen in our game vs. the Sporting on the field of dreams. The referree called 2 penalty kicks, presumably from hand ball infractions. My gripe is that many people, not just referrees, yell "Hand ball! Hand ball!" when a ball hits a player in the hand or arm. Technically, it's not a foul unless a player "deliberately handles the ball." This implies intent. But if a ball hits a players hand/arm and the player had no chance of moving it out of the way, it should not be called. But again, I've seen it called in the World Cup and those are supposed to be the best refs in the world. Other people argue "Well, it hit the player in the hand and gave them an advantage to the ball." Well, the rules don't have an addendum for the result of the undeliberate act. The FIFA rule book clearly states that a foul occurs if a player "handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area)."

The FIFA guidelines for referees goes even further and states the following guidance:

Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with his hand or arm. The referee must take the following into consideration:
• 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 infringement
• touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard etc.) counts as an infringement
• hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard etc.) counts as an infringement

Ultimately, it's a judgement call for the ref. He/she needs to determine if there was deliberate intent.

Let's take Nicole's handball vs. Sporting, for example (and forgive me if my facts are off, but this is what it looked like from my position 50 yards away). The ball was kicked and it hit Nicole in the hand while her hand was at about her shoulder height. She wasn't trying to block it with her hand, but she could not move her hand out of the way in time even if she wanted to, but the ref blew his whislte for the PK. He should have continued play with no stoppage.

Now let's take a look at the Sporting's handball off of Christina's cross that went over the goalkeeper's head. The defender was on the goal line and she knew she had no room for error. She jumped up and looked to block the ball with her upper torso. Apparently, as she did so, she handled the ball. Because she had plenty of time to move her arm out of harms way, intent is implied. So in this case, not moving your arm out of the way when you had ample time to can be interpreted as "deliberately handling the ball."

From my many years of playing and watching the game, this seems to be the most wrongly interpreted rule in soccer, right up there with the ever confusing (and even more so with the recent rule changes) off sides rules. When I saw it happen countless times in our South Bay league, I was dumbfounded. When I saw it happen at the last World Cup, I was flabbergasted. Even the announcers echoed my sentiment.

I think I'm going to make it my mission to educate the referees of the world to the rule until I'm blue in the face.

So don't let me catch anybody yelling "hand ball" at our games, because as you now know, a "hand ball" is not necessarily "handling the ball."

What do you think?