New Scottish FA Head of Referees Willie Collum has promised a handball policy more in line with “football expectation” this season and it didn’t take long for that to come under the spotlight.
In today’s Scottish Premiership curtain-raiser between Hearts and Rangers at Tynecastle there was a flashpoint involving Connor Barron, with the home side denied a penalty claim.
New Ibrox signing Barron had his hands up and a crossed ball crashed into his arms, but Nick Walsh waved it away while VAR Andrew Dallas didn’t intervene.
It’s an incident that Sky Sports pundit James McFadden was convinced would have resulted in a spot-kick last season.
So is this a sign of a new policy from Collum being enacted or are inconsistencies again going to blight the season?
What Willie Collum has said about handballs
Last month, in his first interview since replacing Crawford Allan, Collum said on handballs: “We want to move towards a ‘football understanding’ of handball but I keep reminding everyone that we need to keep a balance with the Laws of the Game and the directives we get.
“We would like to approach it, a bit more, from a football expectation perspective.
“I feel like we’ve reached a consensus that will move things forward, in the right direction, around handball, VAR intervention and so on. Club visits will have a particular focus on law changes and handball interpretation.”
Celtic and Scottish football will want consistency
With a re-alignment, it’s fair to take today’s incident in good faith. But there will be keen eyes on future handball decisions and the comparison to Barron’s potential foul.
If SFA referees are indeed taking a more relaxed view of what has been a frustrating handball rule, and then apply that across the division, I doubt many would have complaints.
That kind of consistency has been hard to find in Scottish football even with VAR evidence. What is given one week hasn’t been the next. Obvious handballs have been missed and bizarre ones have been given.
Who knows? This might be a bright new dawn. I’ll hold my breath on that but there’s now at least a clear precedent to follow.
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