WOMEN’S JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Comments from the perspective of the Rules and Referee Commission
- Part 3-
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Is it easier to referee women’s junior games than, for instance, men’s senior games? It may be easy to think so, and in some ways it is probably right. The matches in Brno and Zlin have shown that the players are generally very disciplined and sportsmanlike in their behaviour, and they are not so cynical and careless in using illegal and dangerous methods. However, for referees who are more used to rough men’s handball, the evaluation of collisions and other body contact in the women’s junior games may sometimes be a challenge.

The observation and judging of steps may be another difficulty. Partly for such reasons, the IHF has already nominated almost all the referees for the Women’s World Championship in December, so that these referees will have plenty of time to concentrate on gaining more experience from women’s matches than some of them might normally get.

Simplifications and flexibility may sometimes cause confusion: Many have misunderstood the rules change that simply takes away the obligation to have a team captain or for the team captain to have an armlet. This does not mean that it is prohibited to have a captain, or that IHF tries to discourage teams from having a captain. It simply means that every team does what it wants! This may include having more than one captain, it may involve sending a team official to the coin toss because the team is busy with the warm-up, or it means that it is no longer a problem if the captain forgets the armlet. The IHF clearly expects that most teams will have a captain also in the future. It is a different matter that the contact point for the referees is still ‘the responsible the team official’. The referees continue to be expected to maintain good rapport with all the players, but this is not limited to a specific contact with a captain.

A situation that traditionally causes disputes is the following: If an attacker with the ball runs straight into a defender at the 6-meter line, it is natural to assume that this is done because the attacker sees that the defender is standing inside the line. Then, of course, there are two options, goal or 7-meter. And after the collision one can be sure that both players are inside the line. But the reality is, as video studies reveal, that may times the attacker gambles that the referees will misjudge the situation in his favor. Quite often the defender was not standing in the goal area before the collision. The referees perhaps watched the ball and the arms, the body contact; perhaps the goal-line referee had to back down because the players were coming right at him. But the lesson is: the first focus must be on the position of the defender’s feet prior to the collision. Between the two of them, the referees must make sure that one of them gets it right, typically the goal-line referee.