Just adding my thoughts to Nolan's reply to an e-mail query he answers today on why the official time for soccer isn't more "public knowledge" for want of a better term.
The e-mail asks why doesn't the game have an official clock. It does _ it belongs to the ref. Soccer players nations over have grown up playing and following the game knowing the ref is the sole judge of time; no problem.
Yes, once in a while u r going to get a game where controversy will erupt over an injury-time winner or equaliser where the aggrieved side feels too much time was added on.
But bring in an "official public time clock" and you bring other problems _ ie when do you stop the clock?
One strong reason why football is the world's biggest game and will always be so is it's free-flowing aspcect. There is very little that happens in a game that a ref feels obliged to stop the watch for - an inury, maybe a booking, but that's about it.
Football packs more action into a compressed game time than any of the other sports I love. Compare it to how long it takes to drag out the following _ an MLB game, an NBA game, an NFL game, a NHL game.
I love those sports as much as any Northern Hemisphere-based fan but I have to admit that sometimes it drives me nuts how long it takes to play an NBA or NFL match. Life is short guys!!
Even with the "public clock" we still get lots of controversy _ eg Baron Davis' playoff three? Personally, I kinda like the way football has stuck with the traditional method and hasn't totally fallen prey to the dictums of TV and, excuse me for not finding a better word, "Americanised".
Note for Nolan: Hate to sound like a picky twat but extra-time isn't the correct terminology; "injury-time" or "time added on" is the phrase. Extra-time refers to the 30 mins played in a knockout match if the scores are level at fulltime (and now includes the "Golden Goal" option).
In most big matches in the modern era, the fourth official will hold up a board announcing how many minutes are added on for stoppages when the 90 minutes of normal time is up. It's been seen on all the World Cup games in the coverage we get down here, is widely able to be seen at the games and often announced at the ground too. Of course, the time is rounded to the closest minute; something that may need working on to stop conjecture?
Have to admit Nolan I was puzzled by your admission that u would not blow on a breakaway and most refs wait for the ball to be near the middle of the park for the final blow? What the hell?? Surely when time is up, it's up; no ifs or buts?
I remember the respected English ref Clive Thomas came under heavy fire for an example of the opposite at the World Cup in '78 from memory, Brazil v Poland? Thomas blew for fulltime just as a Brazilian rose to head a corner into the net and was besieged by enraged Brazilians. But when time's up, as Clive rightly insisted, that's that.
Just my 10 cents...
The e-mail asks why doesn't the game have an official clock. It does _ it belongs to the ref. Soccer players nations over have grown up playing and following the game knowing the ref is the sole judge of time; no problem.
Yes, once in a while u r going to get a game where controversy will erupt over an injury-time winner or equaliser where the aggrieved side feels too much time was added on.
But bring in an "official public time clock" and you bring other problems _ ie when do you stop the clock?
One strong reason why football is the world's biggest game and will always be so is it's free-flowing aspcect. There is very little that happens in a game that a ref feels obliged to stop the watch for - an inury, maybe a booking, but that's about it.
Football packs more action into a compressed game time than any of the other sports I love. Compare it to how long it takes to drag out the following _ an MLB game, an NBA game, an NFL game, a NHL game.
I love those sports as much as any Northern Hemisphere-based fan but I have to admit that sometimes it drives me nuts how long it takes to play an NBA or NFL match. Life is short guys!!
Even with the "public clock" we still get lots of controversy _ eg Baron Davis' playoff three? Personally, I kinda like the way football has stuck with the traditional method and hasn't totally fallen prey to the dictums of TV and, excuse me for not finding a better word, "Americanised".
Note for Nolan: Hate to sound like a picky twat but extra-time isn't the correct terminology; "injury-time" or "time added on" is the phrase. Extra-time refers to the 30 mins played in a knockout match if the scores are level at fulltime (and now includes the "Golden Goal" option).
In most big matches in the modern era, the fourth official will hold up a board announcing how many minutes are added on for stoppages when the 90 minutes of normal time is up. It's been seen on all the World Cup games in the coverage we get down here, is widely able to be seen at the games and often announced at the ground too. Of course, the time is rounded to the closest minute; something that may need working on to stop conjecture?
Have to admit Nolan I was puzzled by your admission that u would not blow on a breakaway and most refs wait for the ball to be near the middle of the park for the final blow? What the hell?? Surely when time is up, it's up; no ifs or buts?
I remember the respected English ref Clive Thomas came under heavy fire for an example of the opposite at the World Cup in '78 from memory, Brazil v Poland? Thomas blew for fulltime just as a Brazilian rose to head a corner into the net and was besieged by enraged Brazilians. But when time's up, as Clive rightly insisted, that's that.
Just my 10 cents...
