Why Willie Collum didn't award Rangers penalty for handball appeal - handball rule explained

Willie Collum had a very quiet Old Firm encounter considering the pressure and focus on the referee due to the importance of the match at Ibrox.

With Rangers trailing Celtic in the second-half there was a loud shout from Ryan Jack and the home crowd for a penalty when the midfielder had a cross blocked by Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Collum was very well placed to see the incident as can be seen from image 1. He was looking straight at the ball which hit off the centre-back’s arm.

On reviewing the incident on Sportscene, former Celtic and Rangers forward Kenny Miller noted he was unsure of the handball rules, which will likely be the same for many fans.

Willie Collum had a relatively quiet Old Firm encounter. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

"I'm not going to pretend to know what the handball rules are now,” he said. “It does strike his arm. I do think on another day or another ref might give it.

"It would be very, very harsh because Carter-Vickers arms are by his side but in recent weeks we have seen those types of things given.”

There was a change last year to determine where on the arm constitutes a handball. The boundary is in line with the bottom of the armpit as can be viewed in image 2.

However, Jack’s cross hit Carter-Vickers just below that boundary. However, as the IFAB laws of the game note: “Not every touch of a player’s hand/arm with the ball is an offence.

Collum had a good view of the handball appeal. Picture: Sportscene screengrab

“It is an offence if a player:

– deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball

– touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation.”

Neither of those describe what Carter-Vickers did. The centre-back had his arm by his side for the incident with Jack firing the ball across from close range and he can’t be said to have deliberately touched the ball with his arm or made his body unnaturally bigger.

The handball boundary. Picture: IFAB

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