Mark Clattenburg explains why the Premier League's handball rule 'can never be fixed' - and how VAR made everything worse
Speaking on the latest episode of the Mail's Whistleblowers podcast, the former Champions League final referee explained why handball rules can never be consistently applied and how the introduction of VAR has made everything worse.
Just two weeks into the new season, a string of controversial handball calls has already marred otherwise engaging matches.
During Friday's season opener between Liverpool and Bournemouth, Arne Slot and his bench were left fuming when play immediately resumed after defender Marcos Senesi appeared to deliberately punch the ball away from striker Hugo Ekitike.
Merseyside was up in arms again on Monday when a match-winning penalty was awarded to Leeds for a handball by James Tarkowski, despite the defender pulling his arms away and the ball ricocheting off the back of teammate Kieran Dewsbury-Hall.
'I am not sure the handball rule can ever be fixed', Clattenburg told podcast co-hosts Ian Ladyman and Gordon Smart.
'It's one of those laws in football that will always be subjective and English football keeps changing; handballs are being penalised less and less.
'It used to be that handballs had to be deliberate. For years, referees used to argue, how do we know whether it was deliberate?
'So, the rules were changed – they've now tried to perfect this concept, arm was in an unnatural position.
'But what looks unnatural to you, could be different to me. So again, it leaves that subjectivity.'
Adding to the confusion is the different ways handball rules are applied depending on the competition, with the Champions League being less stringent than the Premier League.
Clattenburg said referees struggle when forced to apply different handball interpretations across competitions in the same week.
He explained: 'You have all this different criteria. In the Champions League, if the ball touches the arm and their arms slightly away from the body, the referee is expected to give it.
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'There's so many differences and it confuses a lot of people. Why is the same handball treated differently for an attacking or defending player, for example?
'A Chelsea fan once said to me on the train: just give a penalty kick every time a ball touches a player's arm in the box.
'But then of course, you get players deliberately trying to hit a defender's arm from a cross.
'With all that in mind, I can never see a solution being found.'
Daily Mail Football Editor Ian Ladyman attacked Clattenburg's explanation, arguing it's the 'job' of a referee to make subjective calls.
He called on officials to 'get back to basics' and stop overcomplicating simple rules like handball.
Clattenburg agreed that the current state of handball decisions is a 'mess', with the addition of VAR making the situation worse and more indecipherable to fans.
'What's making it harder is the micromanaging', the former referee said.
'The use of VAR, with the slow motion, can make any handball look ten times worse… slow motion isn't always reality.
'I believe Ian's right. From my experience as a top-level referee, there's been many occasions over the last few seasons where I don't believe a handball should have been given.
'I sit there thinking, he never meant that, but the expectation is that it should be awarded.'
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