Jim Holden At The Heart Of The Game

New handball ruling will be football’s fandango

Why is it that so many of the pundits who agree with VAR being introduced to bring fairness to the game are the same people who applaud cynical fouls and claim that a player shown a yellow card had “to take one for the team”?

The deliberate trip, shirt pull or violent lunge that prevents a breakaway by the opposition is one of the most destructive elements of unfair play in football.

Yet, instead of contempt all round, there is approving tolerance.

Coaches and managers will tell you that in the modern game a significant number of goals are scored directly from moments of transition – when one side loses the ball to the other – which is why they work so hard on this aspect in training and why players are demanded to “take one for the team”.

But as football changes, so must the laws and its language.

Movement on this particular form of cheating is likely to be slow, and it was nowhere to be seen on the agenda of a recent meeting of the International Football Association Board.