One of the things I don’t like about soccer is the way stoppage time is handled. For example, a player is injured and it takes 47 seconds for the matter to get sorted out and then play resumes. All the while, the clock ticks away, and the lost time is made up for by adding 47 seconds to the clock at the end of the game. So instead of the game lasting 90:00, it lasts 90:47 thanks to the ref adding the time.
My question is, would it fundamentally change the flow of the game if they stopped the clocks when they needed to, and then re-started them when play was ready to resume? To me the idea seems like a minor cosmetic fix that shouldn’t fundamentally alter the game, but I’m only the most casual of casual fans, so I admit there may be some nuance that I’m missing.
Your thoughts?
Also: while we’re on the subject of soccer, could someone link me a video that gives a good layman’s explanation of the game? Like, what all the jargon means, how different situations are handled, etc.?
No, I don’t think it would fundamentally change the flow of the game. IMO, we would probably end up with slightly longer matches, but nothing unmanageable. Having said that, if it wouldn’t make a fundamental difference, why change anything? As it is, the system seems to work to everyone’s satisfaction. Occasionally, you’ll have a manager complaining about the amount of stoppage time added, but for the majority of matches, it’s not an issue.
I don’t know of a single video that would explain what you want. There are a few people here that are quite knowledgeable about the game, so it might be easier for you to just ask your questions.
Thing is that nobody’s particularly interested on games lasting much more than 105 - 110 minutes. Excepting unusual circumstances the stoppage time barely ever surpasses five minutes, which has a lot of advantages when you have to plan your day or a TV schedule or whatever. The bad side of this is that it allows for a lot of “gamemanship” (i.e cheating) during hte dying minutes of a match.
Yes and they do. Theoretically, it’s 30 seconds added for each goal or sub. Added time for injuries would be determined individually. In practice, it happens most of the time.
The NCAA already does this - the time on the scoreboard counts down to zero, and can be stopped and restarted by the referee; when it hits zero, the half ends. I think one of the problems is, there’s going to be a situation where a shot on goal is right on, or just past, the goal line when the time expires, and you have to worry about whether or not it was all the way across the line when the time ran out. With the “referee’s watch is official” method, this doesn’t happen.
I think MLS originally tried this as well; I know the clock counted down instead of up. The version I heard was, it was changed because most of the early fans were fans of Mexican soccer, who were used to the “count up from zero” method.
I’ve always wondered: What are the mechanics of keeping track of stoppage time?
Does the referee simply keep a mental (or perhaps written) tally of how much time to add on as the half progresses? If so, does he add a standard amount for most events (e.g., 30 seconds per goal or substitution as suggested by happycamper*5) or does he attempt to note the actual duration of the stoppage?
Or does he have his own private stopwatch that he stops and starts as appropriate? Then, when 45 minutes of running-clock time approaches, he figures out the difference and communicates that to the fourth official (what’s the mechanism for that, by the way - hand signals?)
The system is contentedly above review by the layman, so in practice he can do pretty much whatever he wants. I’m curious about what’s officially supposed to be going on, though.
It’s not so much that the situation doesn’t happen, though, as it is that the truth data is deliberately kept so obscure that only the referee has any way of knowing. Whether or not that is a satisfying state of affairs depends on your perspective.
The mechanic, as I understand it, is a personal stopwatch. You may see the ref stop/start/examine said watch throughout the match. The 4th official notifying the team/crowd the amount of stoppage time is relatively new (although older than when I started watching the sport in earnest). I believe the time added is indicated via headset, but it may be different at the lower levels.
The mystery of when the match will truly end is one of the aspects of soccer I like, especially now that Fergie time is dead.
I’m pretty sure the main reason that stoppage time is added on is that there are so many levels of the game. And a park match in suburban Sydney isn’t going to have a neutral timekeeper. The current system works from under 8s to the World Cup final.
When I was a rugby union referee much the same thing applied for most games. I would just roughly estimate any lost time and add it on. Sometimes in finals there may be a timekeeper and you just waited for the siren.
I’ve been watching a lot of European soccer over the past few years and have noticed that they never stop the game in the midst of a buildup to a possible meaningful goal . In other words, if a team is getting close to a goal-scoring position, the ref will let them at least finish the chance.
What I find interesting is that they almost never stop the game BEFORE a goal kick. For some reason, they let the goalie kick the ball away and blow the whistle when the ball in in the air. I have no idea why they do this. If they know that they are going to blow the whistle, why make him kick it?
This observation is only for the EPL and UCL games. I’m not sure if they do it in all the leagues.
I have an unrelated soccer question that I never thought warranted its own thread. When the call goes out of bounds before a throw-in, frequently one player takes the ball and holds it for a while. Then he hands it or tosses it to a second player who comes and takes the ball to throw it in while the first player runs over to his position. What’s the purpose of this?
I believe it is because when the ball is out of play the clock should not technically be running. So the time can’t actually end during the stoppage.
A few reasons this happens.
It can be tricky to get the ball thrown in successfully without losing possession, and often the best way to do it is to throw to a player who immediately plays it back to the thrower. This is easiest if you have two attacking players and only one defender, which can be pulled off by having an additional attacker run over and take the throw (throwing it to the previously umarked would-be thrower).
Also some times the player who grabs the ball initially is not really the best player to be taking the throw (say, a center back who needs to get back to his position in case the ball gets turned over on the throw).
And finally, its a decent way to waste time without getting booked. If the team doing this repeatedly is winning (or drawing and happy for a draw) this is a likely reason.
As to why they generally grab the ball immediately even if the grabber isn’t likely to actually take the throw? At least occasionally just to con the ref/linesman in to thinking the throw should go your way
There’s also a more charitable explanation (not that conning the linesman never happens): the first person grabs the ball in case there’s an opening for a good throw before the defense gets organized. If she looks around after grabbing the ball and there’s no such opening (most of the time), she’ll leave the ball for her teammate who is better at throw-ins or plays a position that’s more appropriate to take the throw.
Ah, but it would make one (cousin, cousin, cousin and granddaughter of refs here). Under the current system, the refereeing team tallies stops and gets to decide how much to add, which stops “count”. This is supposed to avoid “time inflation” by making the kind of plays that can lead to time being added: if those plays automatically stopped the clock, there would be a very clear and distinct benefit to them - the ref’s perception that you just did it in order to get extra time wouldn’t matter.
IOW, if you want to see even more instances of dudes moaning on the floor because “he looked at me wrong”, make the game stop instantly whenever that happens.
Also a good point. And it happens in both directions (look for a quick opening on your team’s throw or stop the opponent from exercising a quick throw).
The second is related to the “standing in front of/lying on top of/picking up the ball after you’ve committed a foul” gambit - just trying to break up the flow and delay any counter-attack until your side can get back in position.
