Football's lawmakers will meet next week to discuss the rules on handball and introduce new wording to reduce grey areas in the law, according to former referee David Elleray (photo).
An the IFAB's 133rd Annual General Meeting, one of the items on the agenda is to consider amendments to Law 12, which covers fouls, misconduct and handball. Despite the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), the debate over what constitutes handball rumbles on and the inconsistency between match officials in their decisions has led to angry criticism from several managers and players. At present, there are five different areas to consider for each handball decision and the lack of clarity in the wording has led key figures in football to call for the rules to change. Elleray, a former FIFA and Premier League referee who retired in 2003, revealed the the new wording will be passed at the IFAB meeting in Aberdeen on 2 March 2019. “The new text will clarify those situations where players can expect contact with the arms to be penalized and where they can expect not to be penalized”, Elleray told the Times. “It will significantly reduce the grey areas around handball... we will be identifying those areas where non-deliberate contact will be penalized and when it won’t be. There will still be a reference to deliberate handball – there’s never been any discussion about getting rid of that and any deliberate handball will be penalized in any situation”. However, any changes agreed at the meeting will be not implemented immediately. The IFAB will only consider changes in time for the 2019-2020 season.
