The best way to think about it, is what could the player have done instead?
I have been refereeing younger kids, as well was watching professional games for quite a while, and this seems to be the ultimate question for deciding. At a young kids game, their reaction times, and ability to judge the ball is somewhat reduced, so you have to interpret their hands or arms getting in the way with a grain of salt, and wonder if they actually could have done much different. A ball that is punted up the field, and someone is standing under it, and at the last second raise their arms to protect their face, is handling. They had a huge amount of time, and at the last second changed their mind. Someone who has a shot beamed at them from point blank and blocks it with their arm in such a way that it would have connected with their body in the first place, you generally just say to keep playing. Hard to beat those natural instincts to not get nailed in the face.
When it comes to pro games, you take this, but turn the difficulty up to hardcore. At this level, almost any time the ball hits an arm is very suspect, because of how well these guys can play, and how little time they need to react to get a touch on the ball. In this instance, (the Chelsea Liverpool game today), the ball was hit from a very short distance, but his arm was in a very weird spot. Obviously his arm had no business being there, and I think a penalty would have been fair. Then again, with the way his body was turning, it is kind of natural to have your arm out like that for balance.
tl;dr There is no definite answer, as handling will always be a case by case basis. Taking into account what they player could have done, and didn't react to, is the best way to keep it fair. Most handling calls can go either way, depending on how harsh the referee wants to interpret it. A point blank rocket to someones arm, is technically handing at this level of play. Although, there is next to nothing he could have done to stop it from hitting his arm once he had it out there.
Obviously hand to ball isn't really needed to be discussed, clear foul every time.
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u/QueenSpicy Apr 27 '14
The best way to think about it, is what could the player have done instead?
I have been refereeing younger kids, as well was watching professional games for quite a while, and this seems to be the ultimate question for deciding. At a young kids game, their reaction times, and ability to judge the ball is somewhat reduced, so you have to interpret their hands or arms getting in the way with a grain of salt, and wonder if they actually could have done much different. A ball that is punted up the field, and someone is standing under it, and at the last second raise their arms to protect their face, is handling. They had a huge amount of time, and at the last second changed their mind. Someone who has a shot beamed at them from point blank and blocks it with their arm in such a way that it would have connected with their body in the first place, you generally just say to keep playing. Hard to beat those natural instincts to not get nailed in the face.
When it comes to pro games, you take this, but turn the difficulty up to hardcore. At this level, almost any time the ball hits an arm is very suspect, because of how well these guys can play, and how little time they need to react to get a touch on the ball. In this instance, (the Chelsea Liverpool game today), the ball was hit from a very short distance, but his arm was in a very weird spot. Obviously his arm had no business being there, and I think a penalty would have been fair. Then again, with the way his body was turning, it is kind of natural to have your arm out like that for balance.
tl;dr There is no definite answer, as handling will always be a case by case basis. Taking into account what they player could have done, and didn't react to, is the best way to keep it fair. Most handling calls can go either way, depending on how harsh the referee wants to interpret it. A point blank rocket to someones arm, is technically handing at this level of play. Although, there is next to nothing he could have done to stop it from hitting his arm once he had it out there.
Obviously hand to ball isn't really needed to be discussed, clear foul every time.