“Last minute” rules change to deal with “last minute sabotage” by Christer Ahl - President of the IHF Playing Rules and Referees Commission

The decisions on the rules changes for the August 2005 rule book have essentially been taken, but the IHF Council agreed to support a ‘last minute’ effort from the Rules & Referees Commission to deal with an unfortunate tendency that become apparent during the World Championship in Tunisia.

In several matches, a player cynically committed a serious or dangerous foul during the last minute (or last seconds) of the game, simply to remove the final chance for the opponents to score a winning or equalizing goal. The intention was always obvious and the methods used were very strong, so as to ensure that the opponent would not be able to pass or shoot the ball. Moreover, the guilty player took care to commit the foul in a situation or position where it would not be possible for the referees to award a 7-meter-throw. There were strong reactions against this kind of attitude (see also an article in the “Referee Corner” during the World Championship) and both referees, opponents, and spectators felt frustrated in these situations. A continuation of this trend would clearly be very bad for the image of our sport. The guilty player did not worry about receiving a ‘red card’, as the current rules do not require that such disqualifications be reported, so there is no further punishment for the player.

Precisely this provision is now being changed in the rules for August 1, 2005. A ‘red card’ violation in the final minute of a game, with the obvious intention of preventing that the opponents get a final chance to score a deciding goal, is now specifically being defined as a category of disqualifications that must be reported for the purpose of enabling the responsible federation to punish the player beyond that game. The regulations for such punishments are not in the rule book, as they are the prerogative of each Federation. However, for IHF events it would be in line with existing regulations to expect that a 2-match suspension would be typical. There may never be a perfect remedy for totally cynical and unscrupulous players and coaches, but it is hoped that this kind of threat of further suspension will have a deterring effect!