Time wasting during 90 minutes - ok or not ?

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

This time-wasting phenomena - after reading various ideas to stop it surely a simple key change would be to take the match timing OUT of the hands of the Referee who lets face it has more than enough to concentrate on let alone having to constantly click his stop watch & then blowing his whistle in order to allow a corner kick, free kick etc.

Opinions anyone ?

Already caught by Law 12 in several places.

Refs don’t enforce the rules for fear of being criticised.

Dissent is another clear example which is very rarely punished.

[spaldy]

Was heavily involved in AAU girls basketball in my younger days. Also developed as pretty good scoreboard operator. Ended up doing soem of the biggest World Basketball games when the tournement was held here in Indy. It is a subject I know a lot about.

In basketball the clock is stopped at any time the ref signals which includes out of bounds, fouls end of quarters and timeouts.

Really think that Football at the high levels should give this some thought. It eliminates any advantage to time wasting.

MT, you are correct. It's too much for a ref to handle. Just designate a timekeeper on the side touch line and stop the clock when the ball goes out, free kicks, or injury time outs. No reason for stoppage time at that point. when the balls not in play the clock is stopped. when it is in play it's running. a true 45 minute half occurs. It's a very easy thing for an timekeeper to do if that's the only thing they are officiating.

I know it's a radical idea but it would vastly change the tactics of the time wasters and after a while it's likely they'd realize they have to play to attack or park the bus the whole game. that's not likely to work for 90 true minutes of play.

[Monaco_Totty]

Was heavily involved in AAU girls basketball in my younger days. Also developed as pretty good scoreboard operator. Ended up doing soem of the biggest World Basketball games when the tournement was held here in Indy. It is a subject I know a lot about.

In basketball the clock is stopped at any time the ref signals which includes out of bounds, fouls end of quarters and timeouts.

Really think that Football at the high levels should give this some thought. It eliminates any advantage to time wasting.

MT, you are correct. It's too much for a ref to handle. Just designate a timekeeper on the side touch line and stop the clock when the ball goes out, free kicks, or injury time outs. No reason for stoppage time at that point. when the balls not in play the clock is stopped. when it is in play it's running. a true 45 minute half occurs. It's a very easy thing for an timekeeper to do if that's the only thing they are officiating.

I know it's a radical idea but it would vastly change the tactics of the time wasters and after a while it's likely they'd realize they have to play to attack or park the bus the whole game. that's not likely to work for 90 true minutes of play.

Good summary Spaldy & an interesting take from your experience in sport.

Well it ain't just Leeds fans getting cheesed off with Slo-mo time wasting as even Arsenal are at it according to newspaper reports I've been reading with Ben White culprit number 1.

This season fans are being taken for mugs by the deliberate stalling of play by the side without the ball & seemingly its oblivious by all referees & often cheated by the side in possession as well particularly at dead ball situations.

Personally I hate it and its terribly frustrating to watch especially after having the wonder of Bielsaball to watch in full flow.

Not sure if the World Cup is gonna help matters either playing in such heat.

[cherrypie7]

Was heavily involved in AAU girls basketball in my younger days. Also developed as pretty good scoreboard operator. Ended up doing soem of the biggest World Basketball games when the tournement was held here in Indy. It is a subject I know a lot about.

In basketball the clock is stopped at any time the ref signals which includes out of bounds, fouls end of quarters and timeouts.

Really think that Football at the high levels should give this some thought. It eliminates any advantage to time wasting.

I think this is completely true near the end of the match. If one team sets out to "frustrate" the other by time wasting from the outset however, it is a psychological ploy, and it doesn't matter how much longer the match actually goes. Its to hinder free flow and annoy the opponent, which is in my opinion, rather unsportsmanlike. Its akin to taking the ball to opposing corner flag from the kickoff.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

I think this is completely true near the end of the match. If one team sets out to "frustrate" the other by time wasting from the outset however, it is a psychological ploy, and it doesn't matter how much longer the match actually goes. Its to hinder free flow and annoy the opponent, which is in my opinion, rather unsportsmanlike. Its akin to taking the ball to opposing corner flag from the kickoff.

Agreed - a lot of ex players who are now pundits have for years endorsed the concept of a professional foul as if it is part of the game which has allowed the slow incremental creep of other forms of cheating to become almost accepted.

The sporting bodies and referees need to clamp down on it. The NFL seems to be quite good at clamping down on things that become issues and Hockey (not ice hockey) seems to enforce rules consistently to try to keep the game fast and flowing.

The refs should have a consistent script they use to brief teams before the game and give a couple of warnings with free kicks and then brandish cards - it would stop pretty quickly.

If it was still a problem they could have a system where if a team accrues so many yellow cards for time wasting etc then other sanctions including points deductions could apply.

I just don’t think they are that bother about addressing it at the moment.

Some might also argue it’s part of the game and teams need to work out how to deal with it - I don’t really agree with that though as given the huge sums of money involved they need to recognise it is as much entertainment as sport.

[Billyni]

The ability to make 5 substitutions can be a bit time consuming as well if you're smart enough.