Handling

The Japanese player penalised for handball (1.26) against the Netherlands got me thinking

How has the game gone from a situation where marking was part of the game to one where incidental/accidental handball is penalised severely?

Think back to Harry Kewell 

Let's look at some deep history of the rules of the game.

https://www.footballhistory.org/rules.html

The first attempt to bring together a collection of rules that should be used everywhere the game was played was made at a meeting in Cambridge in 1848. Representatives from different British schools attended and the meeting would result in the “Cambridge Rules”, which was the first attempt to unify the rules of the game.

However, a debate would last about if the shape of the game. It took several more meetings until it was decided in that once for all that football was a game what exclusively should be played with the feet and not by the hands – this would also result in the dividing of football and rugby. Until 1863, carrying the ball with the hands was still practiced in several schools.

The early development of rules would also make football a less violent and brutal game. Some consider the game of today a fierce and intense, but it is nothing compared to the game in its early days. Before 1863 “hacking”, kicking down an opponent, was a part of the game and a feature that marked was that seen as a masculinity objective.

Thus, by 1863 a standardization has been reached, but it was still far from the modern game we are familiar with. Here are some rules that were applied:

• No crossbar was used and the goal was not specific to a limited height.
• If a player catch a high ball, he was rewarded a free kick.
• If the ball crossed the sideline, the player that first got the ball was rewarded with the throw-in.
• Throw-ins were made with one hand (this was not praticed in Scottland though).

It's a game where handling in various forms was an important practice.

In 1869 [??] the practice of marking was outlawed and only the keeper could deliberately handle the ball.

This word deliberately is where the angst lies.

Read from Beastly Fury:

TODAY -- 
HANDLING THE BALL (from FA Laws)

It is an offence if a player: 

• deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, including moving the hand/arm towards the ball

• gains possession/control of the ball after it has touched their hand/arm and then:

• scores in the opponents’ goal

• creates a goal-scoring opportunity

• scores in the opponents’ goal directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper

It is usually an offence if a player:

• touches the ball with their hand/arm when:

• the hand/arm has made their body unnaturally bigger

• the hand/arm is above/beyond their shoulder level (unless the player deliberately plays the ball which then touches their hand/arm)

The above offences apply even if the ball touches a player’s hand/arm directly from the head or body (including the foot) of another player who is close.

Except for the above offences, it is not usually an offence if the ball touches a player’s hand/arm:

• directly from the player’s own head or body (including the foot)

• directly from the head or body (including the foot) of another player who is close

• if the hand/arm is close to the body and does not make the body unnaturally bigger

• when a player falls and the hand/arm is between the body and the ground to support the body, but not extended laterally or vertically away from the body

The goalkeeper has the same restrictions on handling the ball as any other player outside the penalty area. If the goalkeeper handles the ball inside their penalty area when not permitted to do so, an indirect free kick is awarded but there is no disciplinary sanction.