Howard Webb, the head of the Premier League's referees, is advocating for an urgent review of the handball rule following the controversial own goal by Jacob Greaves in the match between Ipswich and Manchester United (2-5). The incident raised eyebrows as the ball hit a visiting player's hand right before it crossed the line.
It's complete nonsense, isn’t it? If Harry Maguire strikes a beautiful shot into the top corner, the goal gets disallowed. But if he mishits it, resulting in an own goal, it counts. That doesn’t sit right.
The rule needs to change and move away from this idea. We’re in a ridiculous position where a goal is awarded solely because it’s an own goal. Referees are left to calculate whether the shot was on target or not. The worst-case scenario for us is if officials decide the ball was going wide and it’s an own goal, yet credit is given to the player whose hand it touched.
So I think we should revisit this issue and simply allow referees to determine if it’s a straightforward handball infringement. Did it increase his body size? Did he intentionally handle the ball? In that situation, I don’t think Maguire is guilty of such actions.
