Rangers and Celtic were involved in a dramatic VAR moment during their 2-2 draw, prompting renewed debate about the handball law after a penalty decision against Rangers.
A former referee has urged a revision to the rule after Rangers conceded a spot kick in the Old Firm clash. The draw did little to boost either side’s Scottish Premiership ambitions. Rangers remain six points behind leaders Heart of Midlothian F.C., while Celtic are eight adrift with a match still to play. It was particularly frustrating for the Light Blues, who had established a two-goal advantage by the interval following a dominant opening half.
The visitors managed to pull one back through a header from Kieran Tierney, and another delivery into the Rangers penalty area was nodded onto the arm of Dujon Sterling by Daizen Maeda. Home goalkeeper Jack Butland initially produced an important stop. However, VAR stepped in and awarded a penalty, giving Reo Hatate the opportunity to equalise from the spot. His attempt was saved, but he reacted quickest to force in the rebound.
Former top-flight referee Keith Hackett believes the handball law should be adjusted so that only deliberate actions are punished, rather than situations like Sterling’s which appeared accidental. Alan Shearer, a legend of Newcastle United F.C., voiced comparable frustrations after controversial incidents in the Premier League over the weekend.
Hackett told Ibrox News: “The match officials in this situation under the handball law have no alternative other than to award a penalty kick.
A red card for the denial of an obvious goal is not issued on the basis that the goalkeeper had a high probability of stopping the ball from entering the goal. Once again, the handball law creates controversy, and I support Alan Shearer that this law needs to change and we start to emphasise the word ‘deliberate’ action before awarding a free kick or penalty kick.”
Speaking about the decision to disallow Burnley F.C.’s late equaliser against Brentford F.C. for handball, Shearer said on Match of the Day: “I just hate the handball rule. Whether it’s today’s decision at Burnley or any of the other controversial ones this season, they have messed it up.
What is law on handball rule?
“Now, they’ll say that things are better in the Premier League than they are abroad, but that doesn’t wash with me. It is so messed up in every single way, there is ‘deliberate’, ‘proximity’, ‘natural’, ‘unnatural.’ There are so many different ways they have to interpret things and it isn’t fit for purpose. For fans to be sat in the stadium and waiting for three, four minutes, or for however long it took today at Turf Moor, it doesn’t seem right and it isn’t fair.”
Lawmakers at International Football Association Board explain: For the purposes of determining handball offences, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit. Not every touch of a player’s hand/arm with the ball is an offence. It is an offence if a player deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball.
Touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/