Handball rule: Former referee Bobby Madden says the 'criteria has to be narrowed'

The handball rule. The mere mention of it is grimace inducing.

Everton boss Sean Dyche recently described it as "a farce". Rangers manager Phillipe Clement is flummoxed by it and has called for clarity. Those are just a smattering of voices of dissatisfaction amid the deluge.

Football, it seems, is united against it. Fans, players, pundits are all bemused by what does and does not constitute a penalty for handball.

How could something that, in theory, should be simple be proving so troublesome? Constant tinkering from IFAB does not help, nor does the degree of subjectivity ingrained in determining handball.

Who better to "unwind all the nonsense" and "keep it simple" by re-writing the rule than former grade one and Fifa referee Bobby Madden?

First, though, let's look at what the current rule actually says. The key considerations for referees are:

• Whether it is a "deliberate action" by the player - ie, have they moved their arm towards the ball

• Has the player made their body "unnaturally bigger" with the position of their hand/arm

• The proximity of the player from the ball and the speed it hits them on the arm/hand

Those are the basics, but if only it was that straightforward. Madden says myriad other factors are giving referees a near impossible job.

"What we currently have is something that has evolved over a number of years because we had to move away from only deciding if an act was deliberate," he told BBC Scotland.

"Currently, the amount of criteria we have to judge in an incident is almost impossible. Is it within the silhouette? Is it a natural position? Is it from a deflection? Is it a supporting arm? There's a whole host of phrases thrown in by IFAB, Uefa and Fife for referees to judge.

Madden adds that the rule now "punishes the innocent and unintentional" and has led to penalties being awarded "more liberally than ever", often with the support of VAR.

To put it bluntly, he says the law is no longer fit for purpose.

How to make it better?

Madden is adamant that narrowing the criteria is a must.

"You're always going to have a degree of subjectivity - as soon as you consider intent, that's subjective - but the focus should be on shots at goal," he says.

So, here is his manifesto for clearing up the confusion:

A penalty should not be awarded when:

• The ball is played on to your hand/arm

• The ball deflects from your own body to hand/arm

• The ball is played by a team-mate who is playing the ball away from goal

• You are jumping to challenge for the ball when your hand/arm is being used for leverage - "players can't play like penguins"

• You are attempting to prevent a cross and do not intentionally make yourself bigger

A penalty should be awarded when:

• A player moves their hand towards the ball when blocking a shot at goal

• A player intentionally makes themselves bigger when blocking a shot at goal

• A player intentionally moves their arm towards the ball within the penalty area

What do the pundits say?

Former Scotland midfielder Leanne Crichton

There's so many varying decisions week by week that look similar and you get different outcomes and different outcomes. That tells me it's far too complex for referees to follow let alone players. We need to narrow it down because it's now far too subjective. It has to be better, slicker and there has to be less debate around it.

Former Hearts player Allan Preston

I agree we need to simplify the handball rule. It just comes down to who's watching it and what their opinion is. I just wish IFAB would leave our game alone - everything they're coming out with is an utter nonsense. They're wanting to complicate things.