Back-pass rule would have saved Guglielmo Vicario from Tottenham red card | OneFootball

Highlights

Tottenham Hotspur suffered a fourth defeat in five games on Wednesday night after West Ham United came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory in the Premier League.

Ange Postecoglu's men took the lead thanks to a returning Cristian Romero, but were pegged back when a deflected shot fell to Jarrod Bowen who smashed in the equalizer. The Hammers found the winning goal thanks to James Ward-Prowse, who had the freedom of the penalty area to convert into an empty net.

The former Southampton captain's goal caused a lot of speculation online as it came after he won a fifty-fifty battle with Spurs 'keeper Gugliemo Vicario. The challenge came as a result of a sloppy back pass from Destiny Udogie. The Italian shot-stopper raced out and handled the ball before it ricocheted into the path of Ward-Prowse, who scored the rebound after initially hitting the post.

Many fans at home may have been wondering if Vicario would have received his marching orders had he stopped the clear goalscoring opportunity with his hands, but a journalist came to the rescue to explain why the 27-year-old was allowed to stay on the pitch.

Why wasn't Vicario sent off?

Dale Johnson explains the backpass rule

Taking to X (formely Twitter), ESPN's Dale Johnson posted a clip of the goal in question, praising the referee for the advantage he played to allow West Ham to score, rather than awarding a free kick. He noted that had the foul been given, David Moyes' side would have only received an indirect free kick inside the penalty area and Vicario would go unpunished.

This led to questions from Johnson's followers asking whether it would be possible for a goalkeeper in a similar question to be sent off. One specifically referenced the fact that it would've denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Johnson debunked this suggestion, replying with:

This rule seemed to catch many fans off guard, perhaps an indication of how difficult it is to follow the rules of football due to the inconsistency of its implementation.

Inconsistent rules across Europe

A big part of the reason why fans have been struggling to keep up to date with the laws of the game is because of how they are implemented differently across different competitions. The most recent example of this was the penalty awarded to PSG in the dying seconds of their Champions League fixture against Newcastle. Tino Livramento was penalised for handling the ball, when replays showed that it initially deflected off his torso, then onto his arm.

As of 2021, Premier League rules state that if the ball comes off another part of the player's body, forcing the ball to change direction in order to hit the arm, a foul will not be awarded. However, as proven in the Parc de Princes, this is not the law that UEFA abides by.

This has led to a lot of confusion and frustration among fans. Ally McCoist was particularly scathing about the decision, labelling it a disgrace.