O/T:- Added on time

[queenslandpie]

Adding to the clock won't actually stop the cheating in my opinion. As above it will get "baked in". Perhaps if the cheats were sent off for time wasting instead then it would stamp it out. Or points were deducted from the winning team on a post match review based on certain criteria! ( amount of time wasting). It might make the end of games super exciting as well! Although the application of all of that might be a challenge! Just some broad considerations.

[ncfcog]

Is it not just a case of needing better/stronger officials? There is already a provision for booking someone for blatant time wasting. The refs need to be braver in making those decisions. Also, I suppose there is an ethical argument to players going down with an injury, if there was obvious contact then the game will be stopped anyway, if its someone pulling up with cramp or pulling a hammy then the game continues and more often than not a player will kick the ball out so they can get treatment if they need it. In this case there just needs to be clarification that if the ref hasn't stopped the game then play to the whistle. if it's an obvious head injury they will stop the game anyway. Finally, knowing it happens, opposing teams need to know how to manage it, get the ball back as quickly as possible and put them back under pressure.

[BigFatPie]

It’s possible to punish time wasters AND add on the extra time. Fans are effectively swindled out of watching football by players rolling around/cramp/impromptu team talks/goalkeepers with fake head injuries and substitutions that take minutes rather than seconds.

I thought the World Cup was a step in the right direction in adding on the appropriate time, and I’m surprised it hasn't caught on in club football. An independent timekeeper would be a great idea, the ref just adding on whatever he feels like is daft, why is there ALWAYS more time added on at the end of the second half than the first? Also, the final whistle should only be blown when the ball has gone out of play. Save the disputes goals scored on the whistle and refs blowing up when a team is attacking. Rugby can teach football a lot about timekeeping.

[Observerpie]

It is a case of needing stronger officials, there's lots of things allowed to go these days that weren't in the past. It starts with something minor like stealing a yard at a throw in or free kick where as now they steal several yards unchecked. Speaking of throw ins, when were foul throws legalised? Why does a goalkeeper never get booked for time wasting before the 89th minute and why is he allowed to lie on the ground for several seconds after catching a routine ball? Why isn't preventing a quick free kick penalised? (I know Dallas was carded for it but it's an exception)
All these may seem trivial things but they symbolise a lack of control by the officials and the more that they give, the more that players will take.
Rant over.

[OP67]

Wasn't one of our own players carded for time wasting with 20 minutes to go and we were losing? I'm all for brandishing the cards for obvious time wasting like kicking the ball away although that seems to depend how obvious you make it look.

[the_anticlough]

Watch an NBA game and you'll realise that a sport is capable of totally eliminating time-wasting - it'd be a revelation to many.

That governing body has put so much effort in over the years to get its product right for the watching audience, in the arenas and on screen.

Imagine the process in reverse, with time-wasting being introduced into basketball with timekeeping removed - there would be pandemonium, fans would think their sport had been wrecked.

And it's not something specific to basketball, rugby - a much similar sport to football - does the same.

I'd love to see the clock stopped every time there's a stoppage in football. Plus 'delay of game' rules. Slow with a throw-in? It goes to the other team. Ditto for free-kicks. Slow with a goal-kick? It becomes a corner. 5 'delay of game warnings'? Penalty to the other team!

[51Magpie]

It is a case of needing stronger officials, there's lots of things allowed to go these days that weren't in the past.

I'm slightly O/T here but I honestly don't know the answer. I'm sure that there was a time when the award of a penalty was the only thing that would put off the final whistle when time was up. Nowadays, if a corner (or a free-kick in a promising position) is awarded, the attacking team seem always to be allowed to take all the time in the world with their prep, and after the kick is eventually taken, the ref still won't blow until either a goal is scored or the ensuing pinball session has finished. Have the laws/rules changed?

[since41]

The trouble is telling whether a player is genuinely injured perhaps a mandatory 5 minute rest on the sidelines would stop the play acting.

[the_anticlough]

The trouble is telling whether a player is genuinely injured perhaps a mandatory 5 minute rest on the sidelines would stop the play acting.

I'm for anything that works - trouble is the solution can't be anything that gives a team an incentive to nobble their opponents

[BigFatPie]

Watch an NBA game and you'll realise that a sport is capable of totally eliminating time-wasting - it'd be a revelation to many.

That governing body has put so much effort in over the years to get its product right for the watching audience, in the arenas and on screen.

Imagine the process in reverse, with time-wasting being introduced into basketball with timekeeping removed - there would be pandemonium, fans would think their sport had been wrecked.

And it's not something specific to basketball, rugby - a much similar sport to football - does the same.

I'd love to see the clock stopped every time there's a stoppage in football. Plus 'delay of game' rules. Slow with a throw-in? It goes to the other team. Ditto for free-kicks. Slow with a goal-kick? It becomes a corner. 5 'delay of game warnings'? Penalty to the other team!

Football moves at a glacial pace when it comes to changing/getting rid of daft laws and bringing in better ones. I guess it’s the inherently conservative nature of both authorities and fans. If you watch the highlights of a game from the 70s and early 80s it’s hard to believe that the back pass to the keeper was allowed for so long when it slowed the game down as much as it did.

Sooner or later timekeeping at matches will be changed and future generations will similarly wonder why we did it like we do now.