REUTERS: As a result of the Premier League’s tough stance on new handball laws, players will be reluctant to use their weapons to defend themselves during aerial challenges, former England midfielder Ryan Mason said on Tuesday.
In the early weeks of the Premier League, a series of controversial handball decisions led some to call for a change in the law in the English game.
Most of the controversy is centered on handball by players where the referee rules their hand or arm is an “unnatural condition” or enlarges the body.
Previously, the established handball ball law primarily depended on renderers as to whether the handball ball was intentional.
Mason, who suffered a fractured skull after a head-on collision with Chelsea’s Gary Cahill while playing for Hull City in 2017, said that while the rules would always be changed, handball rules were not a problem in the past.
“You’re almost telling defenders not to walk naturally. I’m probably too excited about it because I lost my career, almost my life, someone challenged me in a way that wasn’t true,” Mason told Sky Sports.
“They didn’t use their weapons as an advantage. You taught them to jump with your hands and save yourself as a child and there were penalties where the weapons were in a natural position but the ball hit them from outside the yard.
“My fear is the safety of the players. You’re going to challenge the guy not to use his hand and almost go beyond his head. It’s not good for the game.”
Mason’s old club Tottenham Hotspur were denied a Premier League win on Sunday after New United were fined by United Eric Dyer in stoppage time for a handball ball, facing the ball in the opposite direction when he jumped.
Culum Wills converted a spot kick 1-1.
Any move to change handball law from the Premier League for next season will need to be presented to the international law-making body IFAB next month.
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