The roar of fans celebrating. The agony and angst of waiting for a VAR call. The painful realisation that a goal your team scored has been denied for a marginal offside call. The ups and downs of being a supporter of a Premier League team are set to return in less than three weeks when the 2021/22 campaign gets underway on August 13, with Arsenal travelling to newly-promoted Brentford in the opening fixture of the season. After constant officiating controversies last term, the FA have listened to supporters’ qualms and attempted to rectify some problems surrounding VAR and handball rules.
Handball rule change
One of the first rules that is being altered is the accidental handball rule. The change means that any accidental handball in the build-up to a goal will no longer be deemed an offence. Fans of Premier League clubs had criticised the decision to disallow Fulham’s goal against Spurs last term, with Mario Lemina’s perceived handball the build-up to the Cottagers equaliser ruled out by VAR.
The new rule states: “A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised.”
