Refs are calling players for ‘handball’ at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. What’s that?
A ‘handball’ call led to an early goal for England in the game against rival Scotland during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Sunday, and Scotland wasn’t happy.
When team England forward Francesca Kirby’s cross bounced off team Scotland defender Nicola Docherty’s arm, officials called a penalty, Yahoo Sports reported. Team England’s Nikita Parris converted the penalty into a goal.
Why was team Scotland so frustrated? That would be thanks to the hotly debated handball rule.
A handball is when a player who is not a goalkeeper uses “any part of the arm, from the tips of a player’s fingers right up to the shoulder” to handle the ball, according to Livestrong.com.
Previously, officials only called a handball penalty when they deemed a player was deliberately using her hands to keep the ball away from the opponent, according to USA Today.
Now, the International Football Association Board has added to the rule that unintentional handballs resulting in a goal or “a goal-scoring opportunity after gaining possession from their hand/arm - even if accidental” is prohibited, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The penalty will result in a free-kick, according to BBC Sport.
The rule has also been changed to include “if a player makes his body bigger with his arm, and it is automatically an offense if the arm is above shoulder height,” ESPN reported.
“We’ve changed it to say the body has a certain silhouette,” said IFAB technical director David Elleray, according to BBC Sport. “If the arms are extended beyond that silhouette then the body is being made unnaturally bigger, with the purpose of it being a bigger barrier to the opponent or the ball.”
Social media users are not happy about the change, voicing frustration over what some say is still an absurd and unclear rule. Two of today’s games, England vs. Scotland and Brazil vs. Jamaica, sparked a flurry of tweets.
This story was originally published June 9, 2019 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Refs are calling players for ‘handball’ at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. What’s that?."