Alan Shearer fumes at handball law after major controversy in West Ham United win v Bournemouth
Alan Shearer was absolutely furious at the handball rule after West Ham benefitted twice from VAR decisions in the win over Bournemouth on Monday.
The opening goal of the game was allowed to stand despite Thilo Kehrer handling the ball as he didn’t directly benefit from it, while they were given a stoppage time penalty in the second half after Jordan Zemura slid in to block the cross and it hit his arm.
But both decisions were questioned by the wider public, and Shearer took to his personal Twitter account (24 October) to slam the rule.
“The handball law is all over the place. It’s an utter mess!!” he said.
That was in reply to The Times journalist Henry Winter’s tweet, which claimed the penalty was correctly given but that the first goal should have been ruled out for a deliberate handball.
Ridiculous
Look, if we’re all being honest, we know the decisions were absolutely mental, but it’s about time we benefit from them.
When the rules didn’t fall our way against Southampton and we were cost two points nobody batted an eyelid afterwards and simply stated that the rules are the rules.
Right now, whether the rules were correctly applied or not isn’t in question. They were. They clearly state that the person who handballed it has to benefit directly, which he didn’t, and that if your arm makes you bigger then it’s unnatural, which it did and was.
The problem is the actual rule itself, but that isn’t something that West Ham or Bournemouth could have possibly had anything to do with so everyone should just get on with it.
Whether you agree or disagree, it’s happened and it’s done. The right decisions were made by the officials to the letter of the law. The problem is that the law is wrong and rubbish.