Two clear rules violations in the same game
By: Christer Ahl - President of Playing Rules and referees Commission - IHF
http://www.ihf.info (Referees Corner)

Regrettably, it is necessary for the Referee Commission to clarify that in the preliminary round there were two serious rules violations in the same match.

1. A 7-meter throw hit a goalkeeper so badly that he was lying on the floor when the ball rebounced to the shooter. In principle, the referees must give priority to the protection of the goalkeeper and try to prevent that the opponent shoots again. A goal cannot be allowed if the thrower has time to shoot again before the whistle signal. If the ball is in the goal area when the referee whistles, then the game is restarted with a goalkeeper-throw. However, as happened in the match, it is more typical that the ball rebounds back to the thrower or one of his teammates. In such cases, the thrower`s team must remain in possession and restart the game with a free-throw. Unfortunately the referees gave the possession to the defending team.

2. In another situation, the court referee clearly whistled for offensive foul and started running forwards the other end. However, several seconds later, the goal-line referee suddenly whistled and indicated 7-meter-throw because of defense in the goal area. It is bad enough that this happens, but the referees at least must know how the rules require that such situations must be handled: There must be a brief conversation between the two referees and they must reach a joint decision. It is not possible that without such contact one of the referees simply insists on enforcing his opinion. This is a formal rules violation and could cause a formal protest.

It is very regrettable, and fortunately highly unusal, to have a match affected by two such serious mistakes. The IHF Rules and Referees Commission wishes to apologize to the two teams concerned.