Howard Webb has divulged the rationale behind the absence of penalty awards for handball by Premier League officials this season. Recent changes to the handball rule mean penalties are less frequently awarded if the offence is unintentional or if the player’s arm is close to their body. These changes are evident in the current officiating trends. Moreover, players who inadvertently deny a goalscoring opportunity with a handball can expect a yellow card instead of a red.
Howard Webb, during his appearance on *Match Officials Mic’d Up*, elaborated on these adjustments. Webb said, “We consulted with lots of stakeholders in the game during the latter part of last season and the message we were being given is that there’s clearly too many handball penalties being given in the English game, in the Premier League, for situations where players are playing fairly normally and naturally [where] we know players’ arms move. So we said to the officials [to] look out for those situations where a player either deliberately handles the ball or has an arm that’s well away from the body. We’ve seen situation where the balls hit the arm in the penalty area this season – but the referees applied what we asked them to do and they’ve stepped away in terms of handball unless it’s deliberate or very clearly unjustifiable.”
Another significant alteration in the Premier League this season is the reduction of VAR interventions unless a referee’s decision is obviously incorrect. Communication enhancements include disallowed goals being shown on big screens in stadiums. There has been some controversy surrounding VAR this season, notably when Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes received a red card against Tottenham. At that time, Wolves were the only team opposing the much-discussed technology.
