A few seasons ago Premier League referees were instructed to clamp down on shirt pulling. For a week or two, chaos reigned as penalties flowed like corner kicks.
Predictable uproar followed and the fuss was such that the officials were sufficiently spooked to stop giving them. The rule still exists but is — for better or worse — followed less rigorously.
It feels as though we are now at that point with handball. The rule and all its variations is so stupid as to have become baffling.
The referees — those on the field and in the VAR room — are following it and games are being ruined, results morphed.