PGMOL Highlight Their Inconsistency Over Handball Rulings Yet Again

Sunday night saw West Ham United away on the road to take on Brighton in the Premier League, in desperate need of a win to turn around their looming relegation threat. Nuno Espirito Santo's side were in fact left heartbroken and angry after another bit of questionable refereeing.

It looked as though they were going to achieve this much-needed win until the 91st minute, when a confusing (to say the least) goal was netted by Gorginio Rutter to secure the equaliser.

The ball bounced off of Rutter's arm from his thigh to control the ball and after the French keeper was only able to parry the initial strike into more danger, and it eventually ended up in the back of the net. After a long check by VAR, it was controversially given as a goal.

🚨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | GOAL: GEORGINIO RUTTER HAS EQUALIZED FOR BRIGHTON IN THE 90TH MINUTE! WOW!

Brighton 1-1 West Ham.

pic.twitter.com/IcaBdJa7T6

— TheGoalsZone (@TheGoalsZone) December 7, 2025

Unsurprisingly, it prompted a huge reaction of frustration from West Ham and Nuno, who stated in an interview with Sky Sports after the match:

"It was a handball, wasn't it, and a high foot. No need to speak with the referee. I think it was the main factor.

"It's clear. I saw it; everybody saw it. VAR saw it; everybody saw it. I think both situations should be checked.

"It's hard to take, man; it's really hard to take, especially after the hard work of the boys, the support of our fans that makes us feel like we were in London.

"Then comes one situation, so many people see it, it's hard to take."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it also prompted huge fan reactions at yet another questionable decision in a Premier League game. The past few seasons have not been short of this type of controversy, but it's seemingly becoming more and more common and as one fan pointed out, it was just a few days ago a goal was overruled for Everton for the exact same reason.

Oh the consistency... https://t.co/wFaCNl8XQx pic.twitter.com/WYbjeNtwXr

— West Ham Unofficial (@WH_Unofficial) December 7, 2025

The Inconsistency Is Killing The Game

The main issue that the Rutter incident has highlighted is just how often we actually find ourselves talking about referee decisions week in week out and specifically how often we find ourselves talking about the handball ruling.

In 2021 the handball ruling was changed by the International Football Association Board in a manner that became more lenient toward accidental and deflected handball incidents, such as the Rutter goal on Sunday.

In the Premier League's own words, the Rutter goal was allowed as it was a deflected handball bouncing from his thigh but ultimately if he controlled the ball with his hand and it led to a goal-scoring chance, how can we seriously state that the goal should stand?

Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, Everton had the exact same situation just a week before that was ruled out because the handball incident there led to an immediate goal. It is insane, frankly, to state that because Rutter didn't immediately score from utilising the handball, it was ok.

The handball rule is so dumb when you think about it 🤣

If Rutter’s first shot goes in, it’s ruled out, but because his first shot is saved and Van Hecke passes it to him, the 2nd shot counts as a goal

Correct decision based on the rules, but stupid rules

— Rory Talks Football (@Rory_Talks_Ball) December 7, 2025

It's issues like this that are seriously harming the game and eroding fans' trust in the PGMOL and current footballing rules when things like this are allowed. Referees are sticking to the rules but the rules are applied so inconsistently and make such little sense in the context of actual football in practice that nobody can support the game properly.

If football's leading bodies don't re-evaluate the procedures and rulings that are currently in place, there are going to be major implications some time in the future. But above all for fans, we need to see major revamps soon; we cannot keep watching rulings like this week in week out.

We're at a stage where handballs are actually fine now if you don't immediately score from it and there's plausible doubt of it being intentional it's ridiculous. Let's just hope that it's fixed soon.