Is it time to introduce a stop clock?

[FatPaul]

It needs to be trailed. Why not in the piss pot cup? I think part of the problem is some of our commercial sponsors might take advantage and ask for ad breaks and special time outs for such nonesense. Furthermore, watching US sports - NFL, NHL, NBA, these games do get dragged out with all the stoppages.

Nah, fuck time outs.

Just stop the clock when the ball is out of play, and keep the ruling of disciplining players for "time wasting". Best of both worlds then and a double incentive to actually play football.

The ad argument is null, as they could be doing that now with all the 3 minute stops of play when a player is on the ground "injured"

 

[Kryten]

Yeah great idea but...Imagine the mega meltdown on games where we get a winner in the 90th minute only to see the board go up with 18 mins of injury/stopclock time!

Just be something else to piss and moan about

 

[FatPaul]

Yeah great idea but...Imagine the mega meltdown on games where we get a winner in the 90th minute only to see the board go up with 18 mins of injury/stopclock time!

Just be something else to piss and moan about

No need, the clock only increments when the ball is in play.

 

[NuddysGloves]

I think everybody is missing the most obvious solution here........add a second ball onto the pitch!!

By playing with two footballs it's unlikely that both will be out of play at the same time so it makes it much more difficult for teams to waste time.

Although as I type this I am realising something, there possibly will be occasions where both balls are out of play at the same time so maybe a stop clock would still be needed. Or three balls......

 

[Kryten]

I think everybody is missing the most obvious solution here........add a second ball onto the pitch!!

By playing with two footballs it's unlikely that both will be out of play at the same time so it makes it much more difficult for teams to waste time.

Although as I type this I am realising something, there possibly will be occasions where both balls are out of play at the same time so maybe a stop clock would still be needed. Or three balls......

Pinball Multiball Football, think this is it, Solved. Also we can take out the corner flags and put in plungers! Games gone stale anyway!

 

[Benitachel]

Stopping the clock when the ball is out of play is a good idea. Basketball has a different official for this and everyone can see the clock. Let it happen and the time wasting and cheating will end. It’s only a matter of time before this happens! If you will excuse the pun

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/64069729

 

[Gaini Blade]

Given the amount of time wasting that goes on, surely its time we think about stopping the clock when the ball is out of play.

The referees are clearly not up to task, as they never can seem to find the "stop" button.

I'm sure I once read that the ball is only in play for an avarage of 60 minutes, and by stopping the clock it could end the scraps that take place whenever the opposition refuses to give up the ball.

If I can use it to stop play while I nip for a pee then I'm for it.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

In 2010 there was a Premier League game between Stoke and Blackburn where the ball was only in play for a total of 39 minutes.

 

[crazyblade1889]

Hecky made the argument very well in his interview after QPR defeat.
Pointless relying on the ref.
So boring to watch blatant timewasting.
Such a simple solution to have an inplay clock.

Just bumping this comment after the weekends match. Just introduce an in play clock. No one can argue then and we won’t have a situation where 16 minutes of injury time is played.

 

[crazyblade1889]

Back-chatting is a yellow card.
Conversations with referees go through your Captain, unless you're spoken to or have been given permission by the referee.

Seemed a fair comment at the time, so can we now argue about the Mcburnie red card?

 

[Old Programme seller]

We need transparency a clock may be the answer it’s funny how refereeing decisions have gone down hill since that former Man Utd player has taken over PGMOL

 

[Revolution]

Just bumping this comment after the weekends match. Just introduce an in play clock. No one can argue then and we won’t have a situation where 16 minutes of injury time is played.

No, but every game will last at least 2 hours due to the endless stoppages,, as teams will use them to re-group, and won't be in a hurry to do it.

And who will this favour? The big clubs.

A game clock like that will fundamentally change the way the game is played, and not for the better.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

No, but every game will last at least 2 hours due to the endless stoppages,, as teams will use them to re-group, and won't be in a hurry to do it.

And who will this favour? The big clubs.

A game clock like that will fundamentally change the way the game is played, and not for the better.

Depends what the clock is. We have an extra time clock now, that gives us the 13 minutes in the last case. That can be displayed.
Doesn't have to be for every single stoppage.

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

I’d settle for a couple of seasons, back to back, where the buggers just leave the Laws of the Game alone and maintained refereeing conventions in place.

Offside and handball change so often that half the players, let alone crowds, know wtf is going on. This season, ’looking at me in a funny way’ appears to constitute bookable dissent and we don’t even know how long the twatting game will last.

Administrators bigging up their part. Just piss off and let us get on with it.

Twats.

 

[S6Blademan]

For years fans and pundits have Moaned about time wasting and players rolling around and kicking off with the ref

Now there finally doing something about it everyone is still moaning

The new extra added stoppage time is good it stops teams time wasting like we did or like we had happen to us plenty of times in the championship


It seems fans will moan when it costs them and be happy when it benefits them

Not many would have complained if mcburnies header would have gone in Vs Everton

It just needs to be applied consistently which is the main problem

 

[S6Blademan]

We need transparency a clock may be the answer it’s funny how refereeing decisions have gone down hill since that former Man Utd player has taken over PGMOL

They need to explain how they are calculating it

All they need to do is put a ref in the stand with a stop watch

 

[Badger Blade]

It was a better game without VAR, as much as it sounded like a good idea at the time, what with rugby, cricket and tennis having it, why shouldn't football?

The argument on the face of it is valid with football being the biggest game in the world yet not using the technology at its disposal to get to the right decision but my god, the execution of it is terrible. As we well know, they can't even get goal line technology right when all it needed was a switch putting on. Added time is being taken to the extreme when other than for a serious injury, pitch invasion, floodlight failure or some other incident, there shouldn't be any reason for there to be 10, 12, 15 minutes added on. The top and bottom of it is that the tech is only as good as the people using it.

Football and rugby of both codes constantly piss about with the rules. Why? What are they trying to achieve? What is the long term vision? How are these rule changes going to get us there, assuming that there is a vision in the first place? Is one exists, is it a vision that the fans share or are we just being dictated to?

My hunch is that these sports are full of people trying to justify their existence so they don't have to go and get a real job - I know that there are various people at the RFL where its jobs for the boys, with the alternative being babysitting or bramble picking for most of them (yes Mr Ganson, head of referees, I'm looking at you).

You get people at work who have to change something just so they've had some vague influence over the outcome to make themselves look good when the project is over or the objective is achieved. Everyone seems to think that they should leave a legacy when at the moment, they're doing that for all the wrong reasons.

 

[Badger Blade]

They need to explain how they are calculating it

All they need to do is put a ref in the stand with a stop watch

It's genuinely that simple.

Game clock ticks over 90, time keeper says in the 4th official's ear "my clock is at 85". Add 5 minutes on, simple as that.

 

[Revolution]

It was a better game without VAR, as much as it sounded like a good idea at the time, what with rugby, cricket and tennis having it, why shouldn't football?

The argument on the face of it is valid with football being the biggest game in the world yet not using the technology at its disposal to get to the right decision but my god, the execution of it is terrible. As we well know, they can't even get goal line technology right when all it needed was a switch putting on. Added time is being taken to the extreme when other than for a serious injury, pitch invasion, floodlight failure or some other incident, there shouldn't be any reason for there to be 10, 12, 15 minutes added on. The top and bottom of it is that the tech is only as good as the people using it.

Football and rugby of both codes constantly piss about with the rules. Why? What are they trying to achieve? What is the long term vision? How are these rule changes going to get us there, assuming that there is a vision in the first place? Is one exists, is it a vision that the fans share or are we just being dictated to?

My hunch is that these sports are full of people trying to justify their existence so they don't have to go and get a real job - I know that there are various people at the RFL where its jobs for the boys, with the alternative being babysitting or bramble picking for most of them (yes Mr Ganson, head of referees, I'm looking at you).

You get people at work who have to change something just so they've had some vague influence over the outcome to make themselves look good when the project is over or the objective is achieved. Everyone seems to think that they should leave a legacy when at the moment, they're doing that for all the wrong reasons.

I think football should learn from it's own history. Last century, the two main changes to the rules were the offside rule from 3 to 2 players in the 1920s, and the backpass rule in 1992. Both improved the game as a spectacle (though it took 10 years for scoring to settle down after the offside change). There has also been an excellent clampdown on dirty play from the 1990s onwards, which has been a huge improvement. There were not that many changes otherwise. It was not a perfect game, but it benefitted from a hands off approach.

Recently, with VAR, handball, injury time and offside, they have fallen into the Rugby Union trap - endless tinkering. They have to be seen to be doing something. VAR in particular was a solution in search of an actual problem. Before you know it, the sport changes for the worse. Keep it simple. That's why the game is so popular. If you complicate it, the game will be worse for it.

Goal line technology is great. I would scrap all other VAR.

 

[S6Blademan]

It's genuinely that simple.

Game clock ticks over 90, time keeper says in the 4th official's ear "my clock is at 85". Add 5 minutes on, simple as that.

Possibly but does the clock stop when the ball goes out of play for a throw or a corner

They dont do that now because a game would last 3 hours

 

[sheepbridge]

I'd be in favour of having matches last say 70 minutes, so 35 minutes each half, but stopping the clock each time the ball isn't in play. It would eradicate time wasting as there would be absolutely no point and in some games / probably most games, you'd get to see more actual football and less play acting.

Far better than having some referee guess at how many minutes should be added, which can lead to accusations of bias etc.

I'd also book players who fall over every time an opposing player comes within 5 yards of them. Bloody hate that. I'm surprised some of these Premier League players can walk down the street considering how easily they fall over as soon as someone gets close to them.

 

[Brian Deane]

For the first time wasting offence should be a stern warning. Any further ones by the same player results in 5 mins off the pitch followed by a yellow card for anymore.
No more than one player from the same team to be off the pitch at the same time so any further time wasting by a player during this 5 minute period is an automatic yellow card.
YHIHF

 

[Revolution]

I'd be in favour of having matches last say 70 minutes, so 35 minutes each half, but stopping the clock each time the ball isn't in play. It would eradicate time wasting as there would be absolutely no point and in some games / probably most games, you'd get to see more actual football and less play acting.

Far better than having some referee guess at how many minutes should be added, which can lead to accusations of bias etc.

I'd also book players who fall over every time an opposing player comes within 5 yards of them. Bloody hate that. I'm surprised some of these Premier League players can walk down the street considering how easily they fall over as soon as someone gets close to them.

You will get 2 to 2 and a half hour games as teams take 30 seconds plus over every single stoppage. The game will lose all of its natural flow.

 

[sheepbridge]

You will get 2 to 2 and a half hour games as teams take 30 seconds plus over every single stoppage. The game will lose all of its natural flow.

Can still get booked for time wasting (or slowing the game down would be more accurate), no laws would change or play altered just the clock stops until a corner is taken etc so would be less incentive for a winning side to waste time as not gaining. As has been quoted, maybe until this season, wasting time has been beneficial with the ball in play for less than 60 minutes in some games but even now the amount of additional time is at the whim of the referee who might not always be totally fair in how they determine when to add time on and how much, and will vary from ref to ref. At least a set time for ball in play should remove that variable and ensure all games are played for the same amount of time.

 

[reedy63]

The referees and linesmen should be miked up so the crowd can hear everything they say. at least then we know what is really going on. fuck off var.

 

[BettingBlade]

Possibly but does the clock stop when the ball goes out of play for a throw or a corner

They dont do that now because a game would last 3 hours

Throw ins and corners you should get 30 seconds to get the ball back in play or the clock stops. That way you’re not stopping for everything but the encouragement is still there to get on with the game.

 

[LBA_Blade]

It was a better game without VAR, as much as it sounded like a good idea at the time, what with rugby, cricket and tennis having it, why shouldn't football?

The argument on the face of it is valid with football being the biggest game in the world yet not using the technology at its disposal to get to the right decision but my god, the execution of it is terrible. As we well know, they can't even get goal line technology right when all it needed was a switch putting on. Added time is being taken to the extreme when other than for a serious injury, pitch invasion, floodlight failure or some other incident, there shouldn't be any reason for there to be 10, 12, 15 minutes added on. The top and bottom of it is that the tech is only as good as the people using it.

Football and rugby of both codes constantly piss about with the rules. Why? What are they trying to achieve? What is the long term vision? How are these rule changes going to get us there, assuming that there is a vision in the first place? Is one exists, is it a vision that the fans share or are we just being dictated to?

My hunch is that these sports are full of people trying to justify their existence so they don't have to go and get a real job - I know that there are various people at the RFL where its jobs for the boys, with the alternative being babysitting or bramble picking for most of them (yes Mr Ganson, head of referees, I'm looking at you).

You get people at work who have to change something just so they've had some vague influence over the outcome to make themselves look good when the project is over or the objective is achieved. Everyone seems to think that they should leave a legacy when at the moment, they're doing that for all the wrong reasons.

For me the 3 sports highlighted is why it works well in their sports; all have natural breaks in the game. Where football is a lot more free flowing, its difficult to work out how VAR should be implemented, you could in theory have a penalty pending review for one team and a goal pending review for the other within seconds, if the defence smash it out of their area, hoofball style and run onto it whilst you aren't going to get that in the other sports.

 

[S6Blademan]

Throw ins and corners you should get 30 seconds to get the ball back in play or the clock stops. That way you’re not stopping for everything but the encouragement is still there to get on with the game.

Possibly but then you’d juts get teams playing for thrown ins and corners

I don’t think what they are doing now is bad they just need to explain it better

No one knows how they do it so it confuses everything

 

[corner_flag]

Not in favour of a stop clock.

I'm in favour that the Premier League etc stop tinkering with the bloody rules, only to come up with something confusing and worse than what we had before.