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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Today during a U12 game, the ball hit a players hand. Ref said it was accidental so not hand ball. 
Last week, exact same thing happened to my son - but he was called on it.
So... which is it?[/quote]

You don't say which league your son plays in but NCSL made some changes to the laws of the game for 2019-2020 that impact handballs.  I assume this only applies to NCSL but I'm not a ref so I can't say for sure.

[u][b]Handball[/b][/u]

Handling has been completely rewritten, presumably to be easier to implement.  It starts with several principles:
1) deliberate handballs are always called;
2) some accidental handballs should be called;
3) players who intentionally put themselves at risk of playing the ball with their hand/arm should generally be penalized; and
4) players who could not reasonably avoid the ball hitting their hand/arm should not be penalized.

The new laws create three explicit categories: situations that are 1) always an offense, 2) usually an offense, and 3) usually not an offense.

Always an offense
The player deliberately touches the ball with his hand/arm, including by moving his hand/arm toward the ball.  
The ball hits the hand/arm and goes directly into the goal.
The ball hits the hand/arm and the player gains control and either a) scores or b) creates a goal-scoring opportunity.

Usually an offense 
Two situations are defined when the ball may accidentally touch a player’s hand/arm, but you would say that the player took an unreasonable risk and would usually find an offense.  
The ball hits a player’s hand/arm when the player has “made their body unnaturally bigger” with that hand/arm.
The ball hits a player’s hand/arm when the player has raised their hand/arm above the player’s shoulder level.
Thus, when a ball hits the hand/arm of a player that makes the player’s body unnaturally bigger or is above the player’s shoulder, a foul is usually called, even if the opponent plays the ball into the player’s hand from a close distance.

Usually not an offense 
There are four situations that are not usually offenses, even though the ball has hit a player’s hand/arm.  
When a player plays the ball and it hits his own hand/arm.  
When a player plays the ball and it hits another close-by player’s hand/arm.
When the ball hits a player’s hand/arm, but that player has their hand close to their body and not making their body unnaturally bigger.
When a player falls to the ground and has their hand/arm between their body and the ground to brace their fall, but not if their have their hand extended out in any other way.
Finally, a goaltender who handles the ball inside his own penalty area when not permitted to do so will never receive a caution or send off for it, even if they deny a goal-scoring opportunity or promising attack.

[b]Source[/b]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wv1E1v-fBC920t8ZsmTBq1huaXiYhlfim-ghgK5ftac/edit
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