Are the rules wrong?
A lot has been written regarding Luis Suarez's hand ball in the last minute against Ghana. This handed his team a reprieve from certain elimination and ended with them the victors in the penalty shoot-out, sending them through to a semi-final. Heartbreak for Ghana but are the rules correct? Suggestions have been made for a "penalty-goal". But under what circumstance?
My take
Suarez did the right thing. I would've done the same thing in the situation. Although I'm pretty sure he could've headed it off the line looking at the replay.
The rules are flawed in this area though. The ball is going in. We should give the goal. That would then deter the would-be cheat since handballing it would have no positive consequence (unless you get away with it).
In no other circumstance than the direct prevention of a certain goal should you give such a goal though.
I would go further and change the rule regarding professional fouls. Currently if someone is sent clean through but 40 yards from goal and is then hauled down, the offending player is sent from the pitch. The attacking team are not presented with a goalscoring opportunity. Instead they are given a free-kick and a man advantage.
This too is wrong. I believe you should be presented again with a strike on goal - namely a penalty kick. So, if clean through - anywhere in the opposition half, any professional foul results in a penalty kick. That gives the attacking team the same free strike at goal that they would have had if the defending team had not cheated.
In both cases handball on the line or clean through and chopped down, the defending team very often has the man sent off, put 10 men behind the ball and sneak a 0-0. It ruins the game as a spectacle and fans who've spent good money to see a contest are left short-changed.
Red cards should only be dished out for violence and double yellow cards. They ruin the game. And they don't always dish out the justice that is deserved. That is what happened to Ghana.
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