Howard Webb believes Bournemouth’s disallowed winner against Newcastle should not have been ruled out by VAR
Bournemouth saw Dango Ouattara’s late winner vs Newcastle ruled out due to a controversial handball call; Howard Webb believes the on-field decision of goal should have stood due to lack of conclusive evidence; the handball rule is ‘below the armpit’ not below the sleeve line
Howard Webb believes Bournemouth’s disallowed winner against Newcastle last month should have been allowed to stand as there was a “lack of conclusive evidence” to rule it out.
Dango Ouattara headed in what looked like a winning goal from a corner in stoppage time but after seeing the ball had struck the upper arm area of the Bournemouth forward, VAR Tim Robinson told on-field referee David Coote to rule the goal out, without an on-field review.
As per the International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules, handball is when the ball strikes a player below the armpit. But Webb – chief refereeing officer of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited – believes the on-field decision by the referee should have stood as it contravenes with a new policy the PGMOL have introduced called ‘Referee’s Call’.
Asked if the decision to disallow the Bournemouth goal was harsh, Webb said on Match Officials Mic’d Up: “I agree. The referee’s on-field call is ‘goal’ and the officials on the field didn’t see any reason to disallow this goal.
“We know all goals are checked by the VAR to see if there’s ay reason why the goal can’t be awarded. One of those reasons is if the ball directly hits the attacker’s arm and goes directly in the goal and scores immediately.
“In this situation, the ball strikes Ouattara somewhere [in the] shoulder, upper arm area. It’s hard to be totally conclusive as to exactly where.
“The VAR looked at it and decided, in his professional opinion, that it hits the area of the arm that has to be penalised below the bottom of the arm pit. That’s the importance reference point. I don’t think that’s conclusive enough to intervene.
“Equally, if the goal had been disallowed by the officials for handball, I don’t think there’s evidence to say there’s no handball. So it goes back to ‘Referee’s Call’. It’s an important concept. And for those factual matters, you need evidence that’s very clear that the on-field call is wrong. I don’t think we have it here.
“In the absence of real conclusive evidence, we want the VAR to stay out of that and not get themselves involved. Even though that could be a handball offence.”
