- The Commission has been tasked with delivering a comprehensive outline of the implemented actions.
Referee head honcho Knut Kircher has acknowledged the fury surrounding questionable calls during the inaugural fixtures of the Bundesliga. "There are two perspectives and interpretations. I can vibe with the emotional intensity," stated the 55-year-old in "Doppelpass" on Sport1 regarding referee Bernd Stegemann's decision in Augustsburg versus Werder Bremen. He clarified, "For the ref, the hand doesn't touch the ball, but the arm's presence is there."
Werder Bremen's defender Anthony Jung had the ball hit his mitt in the penalty box in the 79th minute, and after an intervention by VAR, Stegemann opted against granting a penalty. "To be honest, I'd have called it a handball," said Kircher, expressing his criticisms of the murky rules regarding handball. Nevertheless, strict adherence isn't an issue for referee chief Kircher: "Hand is hand, we don't want to delve into that."
Referees will continue to undergo training
Kircher plans to use the contentious incident as an opportunity to hone referee's sensitivities to handballs. "Similar to a coach preparing his team, we do it with the refs," said Kircher, aiming for "consistent understanding of a rule" and staying within acceptable limits. However, he also highlighted, "But it won't be like that throughout all 34 games. There will be outliers." Kircher serves as Managing Director of Sport and Communications for the DFB referee GmbH and the Sport Director for Elite Referees.
Despite the controversy surrounding handball rules, Kircher emphasizes the importance of strict adherence in sports refereeing. He intends to use the incident as a training opportunity to improve referee's sensitivity to handballs.
