Mature decision to deny Manchester City a penalty for handball sets example for referees

The ball makes contact with Yerson Mosquera’s arm during Manchester City’s 2-0 win against Wolves. Farai Hallam, the referee, declined to award a spot kick despite being called to the monitor. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

I refereed professional football for 25 years. We were talking about handball when I started and it remains one of the most discussed topics in the game.

One reason for this is that we’ve had a number of law changes by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) over recent years. All were made in an effort to achieve consistent outcomes for the benefit of the game, but we can sometimes end up with different interpretations of the laws.