Because it's not that hard? I don't know why you are getting hung up on the details. It happens in other sports already without issue.
Time-keeping in Football
- Thread starter Alock1
- Start date
Cheers, some interesting stuff there.
That's even worse than I thought.
Blimey. Last time I checked the average was 60 minutes of football played. That's a joke.
Does anyone have any comparing data from Rugby Union? They should switch immediately to 75 minute matches with an NFL countdown clock and be done with it.
How about holding his arm up in the air showing the watch, like he does when players are time-wasting now? There's plenty of clear signals that could be used. Why don't refs in other sports forget it? Of course there'd be loads of situations at first, but once the refs become used to it it's not different from raising one arm in the air to indicate indirect-freekick or any other hand signal.
Just make it two 30-35 minute halfs instead. We'd quickly get rid of everyone being injured all the time.
I think the main issue is the inconsistency of the time added on and the complete disregard for added time within the added time period. There is absolutely no consistency whatsoever.
You just have the 4th official deal with time. When ball is in play, his stop watch starts, when it goes out of play, it stops. For more advanced leagues, you can very easily get his stopwatch synced up to a stadium clock or on TV.
The only reason not to use stop watch timing like pretty much all other sports is an idiotic, romanticized view of all 'old things in football' being what make it great.
The only reason not to use stop watch timing like pretty much all other sports is an idiotic, romanticized view of all 'old things in football' being what make it great.
For me, time is as black and white as whether the ball crossed the line or not. Should be a no-brainer considering the success of the goal line technology.
Do an analysis of 10 000 games across Europe's top leagues and figure out a mean time of in-play action. Stop the clock at every stoppage and refs wouldn't have to bother with protests about time wasting, actual time wasting and telling players to hurry up every two minutes.
Do an analysis of 10 000 games across Europe's top leagues and figure out a mean time of in-play action. Stop the clock at every stoppage and refs wouldn't have to bother with protests about time wasting, actual time wasting and telling players to hurry up every two minutes.
That's easy enough to sort out if the refs grow a set of balls.
Football is so weird.
What size is a pitch? It varies between 100-130 yards wide and 50-100 yards wide
Do pitches have to be flat? No, and even Premier League pitches can have a Tapir, to allow for drainage and to make the pitch bigger within the confines of the stadium. I think.
How long is a match? Between 43 and 66 minutes apparently.
What else? Goalposts can be circle or square. Every decision is the degrees interpretation (see the video ref stuff in.. Denmark?)
Sometimes away goals, sometimes not
What size is a pitch? It varies between 100-130 yards wide and 50-100 yards wide
Do pitches have to be flat? No, and even Premier League pitches can have a Tapir, to allow for drainage and to make the pitch bigger within the confines of the stadium. I think.
How long is a match? Between 43 and 66 minutes apparently.
What else? Goalposts can be circle or square. Every decision is the degrees interpretation (see the video ref stuff in.. Denmark?)
Sometimes away goals, sometimes not
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In US junior lacrosse you often get a choice of "stop time" or "running time". With running time the clock is only stopped for injuries or time-outs of one sort or another. With stop time the clock is stopped whenever play stops - ball out of play, goal scored, etc. - and restarts when play resumes. Typically a game will be either four 12 minute quarters with running time or four 8 minute quarters with stop time - that's consistent with the stats for PL games that were quoted earlier. For stop time there's an off-field time keeper with a clock and a horn - the horn blows when time runs out. The official doesn't signal when the clock should be stopped or started - that's the time keeper's job. Running time is usually kept on the field by the referee. If we really want to go to "stop time", then games would need to be reduced to two 30 minute halves - given that, they would average out to be about the same length as they are now.
When you say there is a choice, a choice for who? I assume it's consistent across whole leagues? Or could individual games within a league potentially have different applications of time?