But as has been said repeatedly already, there's a set of guidelines the refs use to determine 'intent' - most notably, the position of the arm/hand and how natural it is for the given situation, the speed the ball is travelling at, and the distance it's coming from. You don't have to play the ball deliberately with your hand (that should result in an automatic yellow card)for 'intent' to be construed by the referee - for example, if you try to make yourself bigger by spreading your arms to block a shot or cross and get hit on the arm, you would be pinged for handball even if you did not deliberatly play the ball with your hand.
Precisely.
Because the player will always claim accidental and the ref does not have time to subject the player to a polygraph test to determine whether the handball is deliberate, the appendix to the laws give the criteria for determining whether it should be interpreted as deliberate.
Applying those criteria, it seems clear that Payne has committed the offence of deliberate handball and the only conclusion is that the ref did not see it.
"It seems clear..."
Really?
I think it was a hand ball, but I think it's far from clear.
You can't judge natural body position from a still frame. The ball was at an awkward height. You can see that he's tried to kick it, then dipped his head to try and head it. In all of that movement I don't think the position of his arm is so absurd to be a cut and dried hand ball.
I think it's very much a borderline call and we should just get over it.
Well, until trying to head the ball with your arm extended Superman-stylez becomes the norm in football worldwide, it's pretty reasonable to argue that his arm was in an unnatural position for what he was trying to do.
Very pithy, but try running forward, lifting your left leg and ducking your head at the same time and see what your arm does.
If it stays down by your side then you should be in Riverdance.
It still made his body bigger to the point that it gave him an unfair advantage in that the ball went into the goal off his hand. Common interpretation of this is that it is a handball. Same deal would be if a defender jumped to head the ball,thrusting his arms for power,but missing and handling the ball,with a striker bearing down behind him,not intentional,but a definite handball (if his body was made bigger).
It really is a judgement call,but i think with Payne,the ball was behind him,he threw himself at the ball (it wasnt smashed into him),so he made an error in putting his hand there. He obviously didnt mean for it to hit his hand,but he definetly benefited from throwing himself at it in that manner.
So i dont think he meant to do it,but the way he celebrated straight away makes him a bit of a cheat in my books.
"Phoenix till they lose"
KP would be happy!
