I support more transparency in officiating. It’s not a big deal, but the countdown clock was one of the things I liked about the early MLS days.
They do it everywhere. And they really shouldn’t
Why not? Surely with a “countdown clock” the game would only end with the ball in play. Why shouldn’t it be that way if the ref keeps the time?
Perhaps Yookeroo was referring to the first item about allowing teams in scoring position to finish off the attack before blowing the whistle.
Here is what it says in FIFA’s rulebook concerning when the clock is stopped:
“Allowance is made in either period for all time lost through:
substitutions
assessment of injury to players
removal of injured players from the field of play for treatment
wasting time
any other cause
The allowance for time lost is at the discretion of the referee.”
The NCAA rules say that the clock stops:
for a TV timeout;
because a player has been instructed to leave the field for an equipment change or to remove jewelry;
to assess a player’s injuries;
for a substitution in the last five minutes of the second half;
when a trainer, coach, or other bench personnel is beckoned onto the field;
when a goal is scored;
when a penalty kick is awarded;
when a player receives a red or yellow card (except that the referee may keep the clock going in the last five minutes of the second half if a player on the team that is behind at the time receives a card).
This is a solution in search of a problem. Happens every four years.
As one who is steadily shifting away from American football and towards global futbol, one of the attractions is that footy isn’t overofficiated like the other one is. For that reason, I find myself knee-jerkedly resistant to almost any suggestions of change in officiating. The lack of precision about most infractions lets the game keep flowing in a very pleasurable way.
And this is a very very good answer to the OP.
FIFA, despite being almost as corrupt at the International Olympic committee (cough), holds on to the idea that soccer/football/whatever is a worldwide game.
The basic laws of the game (although there are large regional interpretation differences and differing national ATR’s) are supposed to be able to be applied at any level, at any patch of grass, at any time. And 99% of worldwide soccer matches don’t have scoreboards, timekeepers, 4th officials, or, a disturbing amount of the time, AR’s.
So it won’t matter if the CR is counting up or down, since no one else will know, as there is no visible game clock or scoreboard (some might be a bit surprised how often at the Rec level in the US no one is sure exactly what the score was [except the parents, probably] unless it is close game, and even then they mostly know who is up or down and by how many goals, and not what the total was).
Other matters that have been asked about have also had good answers.
About letting the goal kick go then blowing the game over (erm, with their fox40 whistle–not the other way–I now hesitate to Google ‘Soccer Ref Porn’ because it is surely out there). Well, that went off the rails.
Anyway, (and current Doper Refs can correct me as needed–I’m just a Rec Coach), restarting the game seals off any chance to go back and revisit the last decision made by the Ref. Play has been restarted, and you can’t go back to a possible judgement call.
Mind, a clear misapplication of the rules (usually the restart) is always protestable at the higher levels.
But all judgement calls are over once play restarts. You can’t go back.
Another reason to allow a restart at the half/end of game is really a lower-level thing, but amusing. You can see it all the time at the half, but sometimes at the end of the game as well.
So you are the CR at a Rec or Club match at a decent field, but not a soccer paradise, and there are parking lots/other fields that balls can sort of easily land in. So it is time to blow for the half, and the attacking team has just cranked a ball over the top of the goal and to who-knows-where-into-the-woods, or three fields over, or even missed by just a little and it bounced off the fence and you can still see it.
Do you (a) blow for the half, then have to trudge down and fetch the game ball?
or (b) let the defending team retrieve it/throw in a substitute pre-approved game ball, and blow the whistle whilst it is in the air on the ensuing goal kick/throw in and the ball comes right to you and all you have to do is tap it to the center mark then go off to hydrate etc?
Oh, and Red Wiggler – yep.
(going off-topic to op here–skip as needed–grumpy old man alert)
To me, one of the charms of american baseball and college football, (as it used to be), was the Ref’s just went with what it looked like, and everyone thought it was fair.
Both the teams, and the fans. Oh, they would bitch a lot, but what are you going to do? The Ref saw what the Ref saw. Get over it and play.
A receiver catches a ball at the back of the end zone, and the Ref thinks he had it?
Touchdown.
Both teams get ready for the point after.
No going back to look at the play frame by frame in high def replay to see if maybe the ball wiggled by almost half an inch, or maybe the point of the ball touched the turf after the receiver clearly had his hands under it and rolled over in clear possession.
And the more modern fans, who are used to technology (and I’m not at all saying they are wrongl) express that the most important thing is to “get the call right”.
And I agree with that.
But my definition of “getting the call right” has little to do with what actually happened, and a lot to do with what it looked like, and what both teams accept as fair, so the game can flow.
I mean, I’ve watched on the sidelines when an opposing striker got loose and tried to beat my right center back around the corner to the outside, (oh, he should have known better), and she closed fast and got inside position, and he tried to do a stop move, which he did, and would have had her, but she was already committed to shouldering him off the ball, so what we get is epic collision in the PA in a clear denial of a goal scoring opportunity–but was it a foul? He hit stop just as she tried to shoulder/hip in (legally if he didn’t do the stop move), and ball rolls to keep.
Opinions from the parents sidelines varied
Ref picks up his whistle to his mouth, and watches for 3 seconds.
Keep picks up ball, and goes over and puts out a hand and picks up Striker off the ground. Striker turns around an puts his hand out and picks up Center Back. Both teams retreat to play the punt, while no players object.
Was it a PK?
From my perspective 60 yards away, I thought it was when she did that.
Both teams accepted it as normal, and the Ref went with the flow.
So, you know. No replay, no criticizing the Ref on worldwide TV.
Just a decision that both teams accepted and kept the game flowing.
(Ref did swing by after the punt and told my center back she had used up her luck for the game to watch it from then on…)
Sport isn’t designing bridges or spacecraft–we are having fun playing it and watching it.
Sigh.
Why would this be the case? The clock doesn’t stop when the ball goes out of play.
An anagram I was quite proud of:
Sir Alex Ferguson = Uses XI Far Longer
There was a very interesting article (YMMV) on the BBC website investigating the amount of time added when a ‘top’ team is losing in the premier league: ‘Does Fergie Time Really Exist?’
No, the clock is still running when the ball is being collected for a goal kick, and this is effectively game time off the clock, as long as the team taking the goal kick gets it back in reasonable time - if they don’t, the referee will add on time. He can also book a player for time wasting - it’s common for a goalkeeper in a team that has a narrow lead to get a yellow card for time wasting late in the game.
As far as I’m aware, the referee can stop the game for half time or full time whenever he wants, ie. he could do it when the ball is off the pitch and being retrieved. However, the custom is to wait until the ball is in play, normally high in the air over the half-way line.
Note that this is a custom only. Not all referees observe it… check out this famous example from the 1978 World Cup: