The Referees or The Twelfth Man

I know it is supposed to be added on but unlike Rugby it isn’t transparent. We can’t see it stop or start hence the outrage when the time added is perceived as too little or too much. For me it is win, win if they follow rugby. I really don’t see a downside at all.

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I don’t think it does.

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Of course it does.

If so how to you legislate for the paltry amount of added time in some matches?
It might be the recommendation but it certainly isnt always adhered to.

If you think refs are sometimes bad at accounting for this stuff, then fine. I was responding to the claim that refs need to be given tools to prevent time wasting, tools that included things that are already part of the laws of the game on timekeeping

I think you’ll find it doesn’t.

Fuck sake

BBC has an article on time spent actually playing. The Bitters is right up in spending time NOT playing in 2021/2022.

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I keep seeing the supposed controversy of the ref only signaling 3 mins at the end of the second period of ET but have seen not 1 explanation for why this is considered controversial. It;s a LOT of time to add on at the end of a 15 minute period.

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Where does it say the clock stops for on field treatment? It says an assessment is made. That’s because the clock doesn’t stop….for fuck sake

They might make provision for adding on time for injury treatment and time is added on but for the most part it all seems arbitrary and mostly guesswork. Then, for example, even if 8 minutes are added on you can bet one bollock at least that in that time someone is going to get subbed, stroll off at leisure or develop a very sudden muscle injury that nevertheless mysteriously allows them to continue about 90 seconds later all of which somehow then still adds up to the original 8 minutes. And then, even if it goes beyond that mark we’re in territory where nobody knows what’s going on and when it’s going to get blown. It could be in the next 5 seconds, it could be in two minutes. Who the fuck knows.

Timekeeping in football is one of the great vagaries in sport. No two games are the same and that in itself should cause some sort of standardized process but nope, on we march.

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I always thought that 30 seconds were added for each goal, booking or sub? It seems not. As @wyld.at.hrt says it’s “arbitrary”.
Remember Owen’s winner in th manc derby? The ref indicates 3 (?) minutes added time and City score in 90+2 to equalise. They end up playing something like 6/7 minutes of added time with Utd getting a very late winner.
I’ve seen the same scenario in other Prem games with a goal in added time where the ref blows directly from the kick off.
Football definitely needs a standard timing procedure. :nerd_face:

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Where does it state the clock is stopped?
You are usually on the button on this stuff but in this you are totally incorrect.
It is an arbitrary decision by the ref, and the mechanism for the development of “Fergie Time”.
The clock doesn’t stop.

They cannot “stop the clock”. Its all due to their interpretation.

You’re right. You’ve found the great time wasting loophole. Time is added for assessment, but not for treatment of said player, you’ve just got to signal to the ref you’ve finished your assessment quickly so he restarts his clock and then just take an age to treat the player.

Rugby has far more stoppage in my expierence and they are still playing 80 mins regardless it’s not changed.

I don’t believe that is correct. The clock only stops in rugby for injuries or reviews unless I am mistaken. I would say there are more stoppages in football….I still haven’t heard a valid reason why football is the only field sport where the timing is not transparent and shared with the spectators. Just stop the clock for injuries and substitutions and it would improve the situation immensely. Instantly there would be no incentive to roll around or take an age to walk off the pitch.

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The reason football doesnt have timekeeping transparency is because FIFA and IFAB have a philosphjy that the rules should be written in a way that makes football at all levels the same. If you cannot apply a rule at a sunday league game than it should not be used in the professional game. This was their basis of holding out on the use of technology for so long, but now we have goalline technology and VAR I don’t know how they justify holding that line on issues like this.

FWIW though a good amount of lower level football in the US is played with stadium clocks. It really makes no difference to what teams do to try to waste time and all it does is result in players losing their mind yelling at the ref to stop the clock. The same guidance is in play about what things the ref should “stop the clock” over

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Frankly that makes no sense.
Every ref in an organised league has a stopwatch. If the rule is to stop the clock, they simply do that.

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Scrums, line outs and so on the game doesn’t really flow as you’d expect a game of football to do so.

A scrum is a massive part of the game kicking the ball out in football isn’t really a tactic unless your shit.