Time-Wasting

Another game yesterday where our opposition got their noses in front and then successfully proceeded to waste as much time as they possibly could. The ref added five minutes, but it probably should have been seven or eight. It's incredibly frustrating. Keepers are the worst culprits but are constantly allowed to get away with it, with refs often warning, and sometimes even booking them, but they just go right on doing it. Has a keeper ever got a second yellow for timewasting?

A bit radical, and I expect some stick for this, but why not change to whole system of timekeeping? Take it away from the ref and have an independent timekeeper who stops the clock each time there is a stoppage in play, like in American Football. The actual playing time for the game would then be reduced to 60 minutes.

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What say you?

 

Time wasting

I thought you were talking about me and not606

 

Let’s be honest, we’re no angels when it comes to time wasting.
Wasn’t it Bircham (at Stoke) who, when subbed, when to almost every player in our team to shake their hands before leaving the pitch.

It’s just part of the game.

 

Maybe we've just played two particular offenders, but my sense is that it is increasingly becoming part of the game, even expected by fans of a team in front with the end of the match in sight

It is the feigning of injury that really annoys me. I can't remember this being a major issue a few years ago but now it seems a standard tactic and one that really p!sses me off. I don't want our players doing it either

 

I do think it’s getting worse, even teams in the World Cup were doing it more than ever

 

It wouldn't be beyond the powers-that-be to use the same timing equipent as Rugby Union whereby the clock is stopped when the ball is not in play. Reduce the match time to two 30 minute halves and play to the clock not controlled by the ref as they are often part of the problem, you'd actually not lose any time compared to a current 90 minute match...

 

Doesn’t this just add expense which can’t be replicated at lower levels of the game? Natural breaks in play - throws, free kicks etc - are part of the game and already reflected in the 90 minute duration. Time wasting should just be punished, booking for first offence, off for second, automatic 2 match ban for anyone sent off for time wasting. If players are too stupid to change their behaviour, they will not be playing that much.

Though doubtless we will get into the same mess of interpretation that we do with diving, with ex players going on about how players are ‘justified’ in feigning death if someone looks at them in a funny way. Actually a dive would then be a sending off at first offence because it’s a dive and it wastes time 2 yellows.

In principle anything which makes a simple game (and I am convinced that it’s simplicity is the main reason it’s so popular worldwide) more complicated should be avoided.

 

Well yes, I guess it's currently a problem because it's not properly dealt with, and that should be the first thing to be addressed. My suggestion needn't be complicated, though. Just need a bloke on the side with a stop-watch.

 

I'm sympathetic to Stans point of view but hate timewasting. Including when we do it.

In pro Rugby Union, the referee tells the timekeeper to "time off" and "time on". Usually, kicks at goal and scrums take place with the clock running. Injuries get a "time off" once the ref whistles to stop play.

That sort of approach might work at all levels of football. In lower level RU games, the ref just pauses their watch and restarts it. If the ref stopped the watch for injuries and substitutions, then it wouldn't waste time, would it?

 

Keep the game at 90 mins. Keep the same timing regime but follow it properly. Refs have the tools to punish time wasting, they should simply use those tools and dish out more yellows. I detest time wasting, feigning injury, diving and snide pushes and kicks. The blades started at 65 mins with their keeper lying down each time he caught the ball. Totally unnecessary, horrible to see from both sides I would say.

 

Not radical at all IMO and I have been discussing such a common sense option for years. But I actually think that many younger footballers and fans now think that cheating of various types is a valid part of the game (I am in no doubt that 'game management' is coached universally these days) and doing it well is considered a skill as any other. Certainly it provides the best media debate which is what pro sport thrives on. Finally and most importantly. do you really think FIFA is going to press for rules that discourage chicanery?

 

It can be paid for from our fines

 

We have a wider problem in being far too nice as a team. There’s no Bircham type to get in the ref’s face. Preston are the masters of thIs. We are soft.

 

There was a good example yesterday of our over-niceness. When one of theirs went down with the latest in a string of fake injuries, they kicked the ball out for a throw so the trainer could come on. We should have kept possession to make a point about their time-wasting, but we gave it back to them.

 

was that when he threw it out for a goal kick? Naive as the goalie was the worst culprit for wasting time. Definitely need a Derry or Hill type to guide the youngsters out there on the pitch

 

Stop tactical substitution in stoppage time ....
Goal kicks to be taken from side of goal that ball went out of play....

Insist on 6 second rule for goalkeepers to distribute ball....

 

Maybe it's time has come.

 

When you’re winning or drawing against a team which has your team under the cosh, time wasting tactics employed by either side are at worst a minor irritation.