Something I've often wondered...

[jonnydog]

Discussions following tonight's match: The endless saga of extended time added on does quite often seem to become a joke. Obviously when your waiting for the whistle to blow 1 minute can seem like 2.

A few of us were talking tonight and were wondering why the scoreboard clock doesn't carry on ticking after the 45 and 90 minutes to represent the injury time played? Obviously it has the capacity to do it, but is there any rule/reason as to why it doesn't?

If not, is it not something that can be done to stop many a ticker almost arresting?

[pubteam]

Discussions following tonight's match: The endless saga of extended time added on does quite often seem to become a joke. Obviously when your waiting for the whistle to blow 1 minute can seem like 2.

A few of us were talking tonight and were wondering why the scoreboard clock doesn't carry on ticking after the 45 and 90 minutes to represent the injury time played? Obviously it has the capacity to do it, but is there any rule/reason as to why it doesn't?

If not, is it not something that can be done to stop many a ticker almost arresting?

I could be wrong, but I think there's a rule that dictates it is not allowed to show the added minutes. Probably due to added time being at the referee's discretion or something along those lines.

I'm not entirely sure though, because I seem to remember the clock at one of our away games this year showing how much added time had been played. Might have been Hartlepool.

[LINCrover2]

I assume it is because the clock is set at the start of the half to count up to 45 minutes, not just count up indefinitely.

By the time it is closed, and then reset to the allotted time and started again, it may not be worth it?

[jonnydog]

Yeah, but the clock shuts off at half time for the draw results, so the time isn't displayed then anyway.

Plus I've seen the clock stick on 'x' minutes in past games and they've had to start it at the later (correct) time so surely it must be possible.

It's not so much for the +45 minutes as for the +90 minutes if you get my drift?

[LINCrover2]

Suppose it could make sense to stop it at say, 44/89 minutes, ready to start it straight away after 45/90 minutes (the last minute timed manually) with the added time on there.

[RedJ]

I've always said it should be like in rugby where they stop the clock for stoppages. There's still referee discretion but there's also more accuracy with the stoppage, preventing another episode of Fergie time like the Manchester derby where Owen won it 6 minutes after 90'.

[Sammy Chung was King]

It's because the scoreboard isn't synchronised with the ref's watch,so if it was showing that time was up,and it wasn't on the ref's watch,then it would put the referee under more pressure to blow,i remember Phil Dowd finding added time at the end of extra time against Arsenal,where he got it from i don't know,but as we all know it cost us massively!!

[RedJ]

It's because the scoreboard isn't synchronised with the ref's watch,so if it was showing that time was up,and it wasn't on the ref's watch,then it would put the referee under more pressure to blow,i remember Phil Dowd finding added time at the end of extra time against Arsenal,where he got it from i don't know,but as we all know it cost us massively!!

No but surely it wouldn't be hard for him to stop his watch.. I mean one or two seconds either way won't make a difference, as they blow while the ball's in the air or in midfield with no real chance of an attack forming almost always anyway.

[Sammy Chung was King]

It would be nice if they could Red,but i think they see it as adding to the drama of the game,never understood why the whistle goes while the balls in the air,it doesn't make sense.

[Mr1Croft]

The current system is outdated: The referee doesn't use a stop watch; his clock (like our scoreboard) runs on for 45 minutes each half and he has to figure out in his head how much time to add on. The fourth official notes down stoppages so he can show managers after the game. There is no real classification on what the referee can note down as a stoppage. In hindsight these rules were codified in the 19th century when stop-watches weren't quite ready to the world yet.


The thing is though we pay for 90 minutes of football; but if you take a stopwatch to the game and actually stop it every time the ball goes out of play a game only lasts about 50-65 minutes which includes stoppage time. Some games only last about 50 minutes of actually play while others can last much longer.


Personally I think football needs to be switched to "Real time" where the length of the game is scaled down to about 30 minutes each half (about how much actually play we see now) and the referee and fourth official actually has a stop watch linked to the score board that stops every time the ball goes out of play so we actually play the same amount of minutes every game and the half time and final whistle is blown when the clock reaches 30 and 60 minutes respectively, wherever the ball maybe (at the moment there is no rule preventing a referee to blow the final whistle when a team is attacking if the stoppage time is up so I don't see that being a problem).


When this has been mentioned before it is met with the excuse of cost and implementation; if schools up and down the US can handle the same scenario for the likes of Basketball and American Football then surely it isn't beyond football clubs. Even for smaller clubs it wouldn't cost much more having somebody stopping the scoreboard/clock every time the ball goes out of play which should be the same as the ref if done correctly.

[Wellred]

Referees are told to add on 30 seconds for each of the following:
Goal
Yellow or red card.
Substitution.

That is why you often see more than the time the 4th official has shown.

eg if a goal is scored in added time and a player gets a yellow card the referee will most times add another minute. This explains "Fergie" time..........but only when they are losing or drawing!!

[POD]

The referee indicates to the 4th official the "minimum" amount of stoppage time.  The fact that 4 minutes was shown last night could have meant that the ref was going to play 4 minutes and 50 seconds for example.   If the scoreboard clock showed the stoppage time then I think that would create too much pressure for the ref from the crowd, managers and possibly even players who could all see the clock.  The ref played about 1.5 minutes over the 4 minutes last night which was probably due to the fact that the sendings off both occurred during stoppage time so he was obliged to add on additional time.

[hoolahoop]

Referees are told to add on 30 seconds for each of the following:
Goal
Yellow or red card.
Substitution.

That is why you often see more than the time the 4th official has shown.

eg if a goal is scored in added time and a player gets a yellow card the referee will most times add another minute. This explains "Fergie" time..........but only when they are losing or drawing!!

Ok Wellred this ''Fergie'' time you are referring to shall we address this given this scenario..........the teams are currently 'drawing' and during ''Fergietime'' the other team scores condemning Man U to a defeat . Is the goal scored then deliberately disallowed /struck off because it wasn't favourable to Man U ?
We have been subjected to longer periods of extra time than we thought were necessary in the past and consequently lost..........is AF responsible for this too ? It beggars belief that grown men still peddle complete misnomers whenever the opportunity arises!
When we were taken to extra time by Arsenal in the League Cup did someone ring AF up to ask him for permission to play ''Fergietime'' ?

[The L J Monk]

Fergie time was discussed on the BBC earlier this week:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20464371

[jonnydog]

When we wondered why the clock couldn't tick on, it wasn't to measure what a ref adds on on top of the injury time specified when the 90 is up. It was to help the crowd know roughly how long is left.

Obviously there will be some added time on top of the injury time specified at the end of the 90 depending what happens, but as stated often 1 minute can seem like 2, 2 seem like 4 etc... So if fans knew there was still roughly 2 mins left, then surely on the flip side it would reduce pressure from the ref?

[MrFrost]

Quite simply, it's a league rule that only the normal 90 mins can be shown on the scoreboard.

[jonnydog]

And that's that.

Cheers for that.

[ExileRover]

either Hartlepool or Notts County's clock definately ran past the 45mins and 90mins until the ref blew the whistle as it is something we noticed and commented on how we could do with the same at the Keepmoat.

[jonnydog]

IRWT

[Wellred]

Referees are told to add on 30 seconds for each of the following:
Goal
Yellow or red card.
Substitution.

That is why you often see more than the time the 4th official has shown.

eg if a goal is scored in added time and a player gets a yellow card the referee will most times add another minute. This explains "Fergie" time..........but only when they are losing or drawing!!

Ok Wellred this ''Fergie'' time you are referring to shall we address this given this scenario..........the teams are currently 'drawing' and during ''Fergietime'' the other team scores condemning Man U to a defeat . Is the goal scored then deliberately disallowed /struck off because it wasn't favourable to Man U ?
We have been subjected to longer periods of extra time than we thought were necessary in the past and consequently lost..........is AF responsible for this too ? It beggars belief that grown men still peddle complete misnomers whenever the opportunity arises!
When we were taken to extra time by Arsenal in the League Cup did someone ring AF up to ask him for permission to play ''Fergietime'' ?

You really do bite whenever anybody says anything slightly negative about your beloved Manchester United don't you Hoola.

[graingrover]

Why are the Powers in the Football World so far from understanding the growing disillusionment the general public has with football! Racism, betting, cheating,élitism,SKY ,Abramo , NO CONTROL OVER EXTRA TIME. The list is endless .

[ck-rtid]

Wellred,

i do not recall being taught to add on time for the reasons you listed when i completed my referees course,

time keeping is purely at the discretion of the referee

[Wellred]

Wellred,

i do not recall being taught to add on time for the reasons you listed when i completed my referees course,

time keeping is purely at the discretion of the referee

I did say it was not official policy. I was told this information by a former top referee and now referees assessor.

[Dagenham Rover]

Wellred,

i do not recall being taught to add on time for the reasons you listed when i completed my referees course,

time keeping is purely at the discretion of the referee

and thats the problem