Question for soccer fans

[Mudcat]

I hope my ignorance can be excused, but do they have timeclocks for games yet?

I remember watching soccer in the past and, due to "injury time," no on except the referee knew exactly how much time was left in the game.

[Mudcat]

Now come on, someone must know the answer to this.

[tacomax]

After the regulation 45 and 90 minutes, the referree advises how many minutes of injury time are going to be played and usually sticks to that (unless there are any further delays during the injury time).

[tacomax]

Do I win another shirt?

[Mudcat]

So they still don't use a timeclock? That seems so silly to me.

[pjesnik24]

why does it seem silly? if they were using clocks like in Basketball one game would last 3-4 hours easily. I think that when they calculate the time of real play in soccer it comes to 40 minutes per game. Many teams play "on time" and it is a very popular strategy for teams which defend themselves for some reason.
I think that soccer would lose much if they would change the way they meassure the time.

[Terris]

well you got a point there pjesnik...but its simply annoying if a goalie kickoff takes a whole minute just because the leading team is in no hurry at all.

[Mudcat]

I'm not talking about changing the way they measure time. I don't want to change a thing in that regard. I'm just talking about displaying it instead of having it the referee's little secret.

Just put the 45 minutes up on a big clock. If there is an injury, the referee or some other qualified official can stop the clock. When play resumes, the clock starts up again. The exact time remaining is always there for fans, players and coaches to see.



(Go Croatia!)

[tacomax]

but its simply annoying if a goalie kickoff takes a whole minute just because the leading team is in no hurry at all.

In such a case, the goalkeeper will get carded and the referree has the option of adding on any time which was wasted. Your example is no different to a team slow-playing a game of basketball or NFL.

And since I've got more poists than you on here, I must be right.

[Mudcat]

So is there any reason a properly trained timekeeper couldn't make the determination the referee is making and stop a timeclock in that case?

I think not.

[natrass]

OK, very basically ...

Each half last 45 minutes. The referee should stop his watch if there is an injury, subs, etc. As a rule they make a big thing of doing it but at the end of the half it is ALWAYS too little added on.

Until a few years ago, it was the referees secret. Now they have to have the added time signalled to an assistant who will display it on a board at the side.

Invariably it is 2 to 3 minutes regardless of actual events. Recently FIFA wanted it to be more reflective of events and we did start to see more 4 and 5 even 6 minutes added but it has started to drift back.

Basically think of each half as lasting maybe 46-48 minutes anfd you wont be far off.

Its a tradition in football (soccer) to keep things simple. FIFAs theory is that there should be as little as possible to differntiate between the World Cup final and a game in the park pitch. If clocks became part of the game then it diminishes its appeal. Same with TV replays for big decisions.

Do I get a free shirt?

[Mudcat]

Each half last 45 minutes. The referee should stop his watch if there is an injury, subs, etc. As a rule they make a big thing of doing it but at the end of the half it is ALWAYS too little added on.

Until a few years ago, it was the referees secret. Now they have to have the added time signalled to an assistant who will display it on a board at the side.

Invariably it is 2 to 3 minutes regardless of actual events. Recently FIFA wanted it to be more reflective of events and we did start to see more 4 and 5 even 6 minutes added but it has started to drift back.

Basically think of each half as lasting maybe 46-48 minutes anfd you wont be far off.

OMG that's brutal.

[totobernal]

OMG that's brutal.

that's the beauty of the football (soccer)

[tacomax]

I think Mudcat should stick to Curling.

[Baphomet]

From the marketing point of view is great for the media to know when exactly the match is going to end.
45min, 15min pause and 45min, 2 or 4 minutes at the end.

Football is by far the best sport ever, from all perspectives.
Other sports should learn from football instead the other way around. Football soccer is #1.

[natrass]

From todays news :


Meanwhile, one man who says he's green with envy at the World Cup's ability to break down barriers and draw nations together is UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

"As the only game in the world that is played in every country and by people of every race and religion, football is one of the few institutions that is as exceptional as the United Nations," Annan wrote in an editorial in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

As the start of the competition draws ever closer police in Thailand report that illegal bookmakers are moving to neighbouring Cambodia and Myanmar to avoid detection.

"We are trying to prevent gambling during the World Cup, but they are moving across the border to avoid police," said Lieutenant Colonel Subin Boonlek, police chief in Sa Kaeo province on the border of Cambodia.

[oversoul]

There's an ugly fact about soccer:

from the total of 90 minutes, the REAL, Effective time of playing on a game, in the best leagues is around 60 minutes.

In countries with weaker leagues you are lucky if you see a game where the ball is really played 20 of the 45 minutes of each half.

[Baphomet]

Yes, about 25m-30min are effective on a regular match.
Is it so ugly indeed?
It adds adrenaline to a match, and it lets you play with the head and not only with the muscles.
To kick a ball out of the stadium is a wise move if you are winning and the match is about to end.
To play football you gotta be smart besides a good athlete.
Time is more valuable. As there's only 25 min of effective gameplay, smart players will be faster when they need to and slow down the game when useful.
The point is to play fluent matches, not to make it a game to be stopped every two seconds.

[Willie Bee]

from the total of 90 minutes, the REAL, Effective time of playing on a game, in the best leagues is around 60 minutes.

Good point, but I think you could say the same thing in general about a lot of sports. I love baseball, but the old saying about excitement in baseball being 20 minutes crammed into 2 hours (2½ today with extra commercials) is true.

American football? It's eight seconds of playing and 30 seconds of huddling. And how many times have you heard someone say that NBA basketball would be better if you gave each team 75 points and put 10 minutes on the clock?

I really don't know a lot about soccer. But few sporting events I've seen live excited me more than the 1994 Brazil-Holland WC match. And few I've seen on TV have thrilled me more than the England-Germany semi-finals four years earlier.

[Mudcat]

I think Mudcat should stick to Curling.

Curling is a good example of how a sport can get past pointless traditions and improve itself. Curling has added the "free guard zone" rule and timeclocks in the last 15 years. Despite some grumbling (which has died away almost completely now) both changes are unqualified successes.

Soccer obviously needs simple timeclocks. Reduce vagueness. Let the fans know exactly what is going on and have fun counting down the last 10 seconds. No brainer.

The idea that other sports should model themselves after soccer is an interesting one. I can just imagine an IIHF (hockey) big-wig raising the suggestion that timeclocks be removed and referees be given little stopwatches. I expect he'd end up in a straight-jacket.

[natrass]

I think football is not to be 'exact' at the expense of simplicity.

As i say, first stadium clocks, then referees get TV replays before deciding on penalties, then break the game up into quarters, etc etc. There are always suggestions for modernising the game ... but as noted above, football is doing OK it seems even with its ancient ways.

[Dark Horse]

The time keeping is flexible and this is a good thing. The ref will always allow a team to take the free kick or corner kick at the offensive end. If time was kept by the stadium clock, it would be easy for defenders to interfere just enough for the final whistle to sound before such a kick were taken.

[Baphomet]

Football is not like other sports, you cannot score a goal in 10 seconds. What fun would fans have by counting the last 10 seconds?
Players have to run wider distances, I don't know if you have seen a soccer field ever, but it's bigger than any other, and players run continuosly. After 90 minutes of gameplay many professional players end up exhausted.
So Mudcat would you like to watch them run for 3 hours thanks to timeclocks?

[Mudcat]

So Mudcat would you like to watch them run for 3 hours thanks to timeclocks?

Let me be as clear as possible in my answer:

NO!




Go Croatia!

[imgv94]

Who is oversoul? Check post #17 on this thread? I see he is admin..

[althelegend]

Everyone at a soccer match knows how long it it is going to last. The buses outside the stadium are time-tabled in advance to leave at a certain time, such is the accuracy of the time of the finish of the match.
The wife at home prepares the after-match meal with split- second timing to co-inside with the appearance of her man.
Tv programmes are able to be scheduled without interruption,such is the beauty of the game set-up.

Only in cup matches, when there is the possibility of 30mins extra time and penalties can this routine be disturbed.
To fans of the beautiful game the idea of time clocks is absurd.
They know, and so does their team, how much time there is for them to do the business.

[adriano]

To fans of the beautiful game the idea of time clocks is absurd.
They know, and so does their team, how much time there is for them to do the business.

Exactly!

[Dark Horse]

Don't you know that we in the US only have an attention span of 5 minutes? Plus we have to get our exercise in; by walking to the fridge every timeout.

[adriano]

Me i know that Dark Horse, been here for almost a year

[tacomax]

Don't you know that we in the US only have an attention span of 5 minutes? Plus we have to get our exercise in; by walking to the fridge every timeout.

Hence the number of frickin' stops in play and the number of frickin' adverts.

[imgv94]

I am starting to get extremely tired of the incessive ads myself. Don't you hate it when the commerical breaks seem to coming every 2 mins.. I swear the Den/NE game last week must of been 50/50 commerical to show ratio...

[tacomax]

I'm starting to get convinced that they stop the play to match the required ad breaks.