“Nothing can be done” to improve the Premier League handball rules, Mark Clattenburg has unveiled.
Speaking of the last episode of The Mail's Whistleblowers Podcast, the former Final Referee of Champions League explained why handball rules can never be applied consistently and how the introduction of VAR made everything worse.
Only two weeks after the new season, a series of controversial handball calls have already marred other fascinating matches.
You can listen to the latest episode of whistleblower by clicking on the player below or here
During Friday's season opener between Liverpool and Bournemouth, Arne Slot and his bank remained messy when the game was immediately resumed after defender Marcos Senesi deliberately seemed to hit the ball of striker Hugo Ekitike.
Merseyside was back in his arms on Monday when a competition-winning penalty was awarded to Leeds for a handball by James Tarkowski, despite the fact that the defender pulled his arms away and the ball ricoched from the back of teammate Kieran Dewsbury-Hall.
“I'm not sure if the handball rule can ever be resolved,” said Clattenburg Podcast Co-hosts Ian Ladyman and Gordon Smart.
'It is one of those laws in football that will always be subjective and continues to change English football; Handballs are being punished less and less.
“In the past, those handball were intentional. For years, referees always claimed, how do we know if it was intentional?
'So the rules were changed – they have now tried to perfect this concept, was poor in an unnatural position.
“But what looks unnatural can be different for me. So again, it leaves behind that subjectivity. '
Adding the confusion is the different ways in which handball rules are applied, depending on the competition, whereby the Champions League is less strict than the Premier League.
Clattenburg said that referees are struggling when they are forced to apply different handball interpretations to matches in the same week.
He explained: 'You have all these different criteria. In the Champions League, if the ball touches the arm and their arms, the referee is expected to give it.
'There are so many differences and it confuses many people. Why is the same handball treated differently for an attacking or defensive player, for example?
'A fan of Chelsea once said to me on the train: just give a penalty shovel every time a ball touches the arm of a player in the box.
'But then of course you deliberately let players try to touch the arm of a defender of a cross.
“With that in mind I can never see a solution that is found.”
Daily Mail Football Editor Ian Ladyman attacked Clattenburg's explanation and claimed that it is the 'task' of a referee to make subjective phone calls.
He called on officials to 'return to basics' and stopped overflowing simple rules such as handball.
Clattenburg agreed that the current state of handball decisions is a 'mess', with the addition of VAR that the situation worse and more to decipher for fans.
“What makes it more difficult is the micromanaging,” said the former referee.
'The use of VAR, with the slow motion, every handball can look ten times worse … Slow Motion is not always a reality.
“I believe Ian is right. From my experience as a referee at the top level, there have been many occasions in recent seasons in which I do not believe that a handball should have been given.
“I am thinking there, he never meant that, but it is expected that it should be awarded.”
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