The 2019-20 season of the Premier League will see a new handball rule come into effect as confirmed by the International FA Board (IFAB) earlier this year.
As per the new regulations in the Premier League, goals which are scored or created with the use of a handball will be disallowed regardless of whether the incident was accidental or intentional.
According to talkSPORT, “Another change will see handball be given any time the ball comes into contact with a player’s arm when it is extended beyond a ‘natural silhouette’ to make themselves ‘unnaturally bigger’.”
A number of fans have already objected to this rule change claiming that it will strangle the natural actions of a player and now former Sunderland man Micky Gray has come out to claim that when the new rules come into effect in the Premier League, the players will have a tendency to cheat.
Here’s why:
“I think that’s pretty ludicrous,” the Sunderland legend said on the Jim White show(as reported).
“If you think about it, players who get in the box, if they’ve got no chance of getting past the defender they’re going to try and flick the ball up to and play it off a players’ hand.
“That’s completely wrong, it’s out of order!
“And I would argue with anybody who would stay to me that in a standing jump without using your arms you can jump higher. It’s a natural movement!
“If I’m trying to stop a cross, I’m making myself big as I possibly can so they think, ‘I can’t get the ball passed him here’.
“That’s what you do, that’s the game!
“The ball is coming to your head and you have to jump for it, what are you doing with your arms? Are you going to put them behind your back?
“Absolutely not! If you don’t think you can get that high without using your arms for leverage, you’re going to miss it.
“That’s not football! One thing that worries me; we’ve got 20 chairmen who have made the decision on VAR and maybe even the handball rule.
“Why aren’t they asking players? Why aren’t they asking referees?”
 earlier){kind=link}