Remember the great clamour for a zero-tolerance approach to ball-to-hand? Me neither. I can remember calls for a clampdown on diving, on flailing elbows, on X-rated tackles and grappling in the penalty area, but somehow I missed the clamour to punish defenders every time the ball strikes an outstretched arm. What I do remember is those perennial calls for referees to apply the rules consistently. Perisic was harshly penalised during the World Cup final after the ball struck his hand Maxim Shemetov/ReutersIt happened with the third goal for France in last year’s World…

Source: The Times June 26, 2019 11:03 UTC