The referees’ chief Mike Riley has revealed that video assistant referees will not impose the tough line on handballs in the Premier League next season that has led to numerous controversial penalties in the Women’s World Cup and Champions League.
Riley, the managing director of the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL), said that many of the penalties awarded for handball in the Women’s World Cup and Champions League — including those awarded against Tottenham Hotspur’s Danny Rose and Moussa Sissoko in the Champions League quarter-final and final respectively — would not be given in the Premier League.
The former top-flight referee said that officials will be told to minimise the disruptive impact of VARs by having “a high line of intervention”. It comes after fears that overuse of video reviews is ruining the flow and spectacle of the game. Despite the handball law, which came into force across all competitions last month, Riley thinks that there is flexibility for English football to interpret it in a way that will not cause a big increase in the number of spot-kicks.
It was revealed last month that VARs in the Premier League will not rule on whether a goalkeeper moves off the line at penalties, leaving that decision to on-field officials, and that referees will be told not to consult pitchside monitors to minimise delays.
The new handball law says players “taking a risk” by having hands or arms above shoulder height or in an “unnatural position” and making the body “unnaturally bigger” to create a larger barrier should be penalised even if the handball is not deliberate.
Riley said, however, that Premier League officials would need to be convinced that the defender was making a deliberate attempt to make the barrier bigger rather than extending their arms for reasons of balance.
His comments will come as a relief to those fans who fear that the introduction of VAR will lead to a rash of penalties whenever the ball strikes a player’s hand in the box.
“There are still areas of interpretation around the way the new handball has been written — effectively what you consider to be an unnatural position of hands and arms.
“In this country we have always said — and this is the players and managers saying it to us — that arms are part of the game and as long as you are not trying to extend your body to block a shot then there is more scope so that we don’t penalise.
“What we don’t want to create is a culture when defenders have to defend with their hands behind their back or where it is acceptable for attackers to try to drill the ball at their hand to win a penalty.
“We have worked to our guidelines for the last three or four seasons and by and large, people accept that’s the interpretation we apply and I don’t think that changes next season.”
One aspect of the new law that will be applied is when the ball accidentally strikes an attacker’s arm and leads to a goal, as happened when England’s Ellen White had an equaliser ruled out against Sweden on Saturday.
In the Champions League last season, Uefa made clear that any time the ball hit a player’s arm when it was away from his body would be a penalty. Riley, however, said that neither the penalty against Rose in the game with Manchester City or Sissoko in the final against Liverpool would be likely to be given under similar circumstances in the Premier League next season.
“Sissoko’s a really interesting one,” Riley said. “In real time it looks a clear penalty. With VAR you can actually see what he’s doing, and he’s not interested in trying to block the cross, he’s saying to the covering defender, ‘Get over there and fill the space.’
“That’s not a deliberate act of extending the arm away from the body. You also see the ball deflects off the chest on to the arm, and if you put everything together and apply the philosophy we do here, we wouldn’t say that was handball.”
VARs have been used by the PGMOL in 69 trial matches and that has led to 14 decisions being changed. Riley said on average that a review which stops the game is used once in every five games.
“On a Premier League weekend you can expect a review twice in every ten games,” he said. “About once each game we have to complete a check but that average delay is 20 seconds, and is usually completed by the time the goal celebration is over.
“We have said the referee should not go to the pitchside monitor unless the VAR’s decision is completely out from what he expects.
“There have been examples at the Women’s World Cup, really subjective decisions, where it has taken three or four minutes and you can avoid all that as long as the advice the VAR has given you is something that the referee expects.”
“Where you have to be careful is to not use VAR to re-referee the game. You have to trust the people out there on the field of play as the players do.
“What you also don’t want to do, particularly in our game, is to disrupt the intensity or the flow of the match.”
Riley said that supporters and commentators needed to give time for the VAR system to bed in.
“It is the most fundamental change in the game that has happened in my lifetime,” he said. “If you go to cricket, if you go to rugby union and rugby league, it took them between five and ten years to get it in a way that they think it really enhances their sport.”
What VAR will be used for next season
Handball — similar approach to last season, a much-less strict interpretation than in Champions League and Women’s World Cup.
Penalty kicks — VARs will not rule on whether the keeper is on the line unless a blatant error is made by on-field officials.
Offsides — this will be judged even in very close calls, so if an attacker has a toe ahead of the defender he will be offside.
Red cards — the VAR will intervene if they believe the referee has made a clear and obvious error or if mistaken identity.
Pitchside monitor reviews — referees have been advised not to use them except in exceptional circumstances.
️ Goalkeepers cannot score by throwing the ball directly into the opponents’ goal – if they do, a goal kick is awarded to the opposing team.
