But there is one such problem with the rules of the game that is becoming an increasing vexation to me, and which I think could be relatively easily - and immediately - 'fixed',... because it is not really a problem with the framing of the Law itself, but simply with a complete absence of any current attempt to enforce it. And that could be remedied with a simple declaration of policy (though I'm not sure if that would have to come from the League or the FA, or both in concert;... or whether the match officials' organisation, PGMOL, might be able to exercise some initiative over that on their own).
I refer, of course, to the fact that it is supposedly illegal for a goalkeeper to handle the ball outside the confines of his own penalty area. We see instances of this - sometimes quite flagrant ones - almost every week. But I really can't remember the last time I saw a keeper penalised for it.
Just last week, for example, Robert Sanchez - who might have a promising career ahead of him in comedy improv after he hangs up his gloves - came rushing out to the edge of his area with the ball in his hands, misjudged his speed and overstepped the line. He dug his heels in and managed to teeter backward within a fraction of a second, so it might have been slightly unclear how much of the ball had crossed the line and for how long - but it definitely looked as though an offence had occurred. Unfortunately, one of the Palace forwards behind him in the box (I think it was Ismaila Sarr?), seeing his difficulty, had the bright idea of trying to bump him from behind to make sure that he stepped well and truly over the line. He probably would have got himself penalised for this however discreetly he'd done it; but since he simply ran into the back of the opposing keeper at full speed, sending him sprawling to the ground, that was a very obvious foul - which distracted attention away from the fact that Sanchez had probably already just committed a foul of his own. [I somehow omitted to comment on this incident in my weekly review last time. There was such a lot going on last week!! It was definitely another fairly healthy slice of 'luck' for Chelsea.]
It feels to me as if, because of the utter lack of attention paid to this technical offence by referees at the moment, keepers are getting more and more bold or incautious about it, and running up to - or a little beyond - the edge of the area with the ball in their hands all the time. There are several incidents almost every week at least deserving of one of VAR's closer inspections; and usually at least one or two that are probably fouls; all currently going not merely unpunished, but apparently unnoticed!
An immediate announcement that the on-pitch officials and their back-up men in the VAR room are going to be giving close scrutiny to this offence should put a stop to it almost completely within a few weeks. We'll see a few keepers get caught out by it, while everyone's adjusting to the new 'rules regime'; but then, probably, everyone will adapt, and this silly little rule-bending phenomenon that we've all become so sadly used to will soon be forgotten. (Because free-kicks right on the edge of the box are really too close to the goal to provide a decent chance of a direct shot, we probably won't even see any goals resulting from the awkward 'transitional period' - unless there are a few really well-worked indirect attempts.)
What do you say, football authorities - any chance of this happening soon??
Oh, a man can dream.....
[Now, I said I didn't think this should require any revision of the current rules. But I'm honestly not sure exactly how they're formulated at the moment. I acknowledge that there may be TWO areas of difficulty, which would perhaps need some tightening up - well, simplifying and clarifying.
The first concerns the precise definition of 'handling outside the box' - does the whole of the ball have to be over the line, or only a part of it? And does the exact position of the goalkeeper's body, or a body part in contact with the ball also have a crucial bearing? In the interests of clarity and simplicity I would suggest that any part of the ball being over the line should render it, for this purpose, 'outside' the penalty area. Further, I would suggest that it is too complicated, impractical, to judge exactly where every point of contact between keeper and ball is in relation to the line, and so this should be treated as irrelevant. Keepers may often claim, for example, that they were straightening their fingers so that only their palms were really in contact with the ball - and hence, even though their fingertips were outside the area, they weren't touching the ball outside the area; this is impossible to judge, and thus, I suggest, should not be in consideration. So long as part of the ball is outside the area, and the keeper is definitely still touching it (wherever the points of contact may be in relation to the line) - he's handled the ball while it's 'outside the penalty area', and it should be a foul.
The second point of complexity is the issue of culpability - whether and when a keeper should be liable to receive a red or yellow card for this kind of incident. I don't see this as a huge problem. We only have two common categories of situation giving rise to this offence. The first is where a goalkeeper rushes out to claim the ball from an onrushing attacker. In these instances, not only is it perfectly clear that the goalkeeper is handling the ball deliberately, he is also clearly aware - or clearly ought to be aware - that he is handling the ball outside the area. Moreover, even if a referee felt he might be able to overlook the flagrancy of such an offence, a keeper is only ever likely to be doing that if he thinks there is no other way to prevent the nearest forward getting the ball; and that usually happens when the keeper is the 'last man', and there are no other defenders nearby who might yet have a chance to reclaim the ball or try to defend the goal - hence, it is also very clearly a 'denial of a goalscoring opportunity' and an automatic red card anyway. The second class of incidents may have more variety, and pose a little bit more of a challenge: when a keeper is simply carrying the ball around in the area, looking for an opportunity to release it into play again. Here, the offence is almost always 'accidental' - and thus should not usually be card-worthy. However, when, as often happens, the keeper falls on the ball and/or tries to scramble back inside the area to disguise the error he has just committed - well, that is an attempt to deceive the referee, a 'simulation' just as culpable as a forward diving over a defender's leg to try to win a penalty, and as such it should be a yellow card. Also, you sometimes see a keeper sneakily trying to gain an advantage by straying just outside the area, seeking to put an extra half-a-yard between himself and a pressing opponent and/or to give himself a slightly better angle to reach one of his own players with a throw, or just to give himself a bit more length on a throw by vigorously extending his arm in the execution of it. In cases like these, where there is a reasonable supposition of some nefarious intent on the keeper's part, I think a yellow card is appropriate.]
