April 2020 – Collaroy Cromer Strikers Fooball Academy

Would the presence of a timer for stoppages have a positive impact on football? – Part 7

28/04/2020/in Changes to the game /by Liam Bonney

Lastly, This could be seen as an alternative to the “Why does stoppage time still exist?” question I answered in my very first blog. You do not need to stop time or add time on if the ball is live after the normal amount of time that FIFA considers natural has past. Therefore eliminating stoppage time except for injuries, substitutions and goal celebrations.

I have intentionally left goal celebrations alone because that is something that the fans enjoy, take part in and is honestly the best part of the experience of watching football. As long as it’s your team that’s celebrating of course. If the changes lead to more and more goals, then yes maybe goal celebration times could be limited to say a minute. After the minute has passed the other team is allowed to kick off something like that. But only if the celebrations were dragging on for ridiculous amounts of time or copious amounts of goals for some reason started to be scored.

That’s not to say you couldn’t have both though. Having both would not only ensure the game flowed at an up-tempo pace but also ran to the correct time. The shot clock in this instance would be used outside the game clock with the game clock continuing as the shot clock ends. This would ensure the maximum amount of entertainment value. The ball would be in play more often and none of the time the ball spends “dead” would run down the game clock.

Would the presence of a timer for stoppages have a positive impact on football? – Part 6

21/04/2020/in Changes to the game /by Liam Bonney

Now, there would be strict set of rules around this. The clock would only start once the referee has placed the ball where the foul occurred or allowed a player to do so. Once this has taken place the referee would mark out the required 10 yards for the wall to be taken back. This would all take a max of 5 seconds the players then have 10 seconds to take the kick. Keepers could set up walls prematurely and players could have their pre kick meeting whilst the referee is doing all this, or it could be something pre-determined before kickoff.

If the defensive team purposely delays the restart by constantly creeping within 10 yards or not giving the ball back, then they would receive a delay of game warning. This could be a verbal warning, followed by a yellow card to the offending player if it continues and potentially a send off if that player is already on a yellow. If it is the wall, then all players within the wall would go through that process listed in the sentence before.

If the offensive team takes too long, then one of two actions could take place. Either the free kick could be reversed similar to foul throws or in futsal when players fail to take restarts within 4 seconds. Alternatively, the ball could simply become live after the 15 seconds is up similar to AFL where a player who has taken a mark only has a certain time to play the ball before the umpire waves play on.

This system could easily work for corners and goal kicks where the clock starts when the ball has gone out. It would need to be adjusted for the different match ball systems. I think 30 seconds for single match ball leagues and 15 for multi match ball leagues (allowances for dodgey ball boys would be up to the discretion of the referee). Personally, I am a fan of the live ball scenario. This system could also be used for throw ins however instead of a live ball, the throw in would simply swap sides.

Penalties require more time to set up, especially if it is a VAR reviewed penalty. So maybe 30 or 45 seconds for penalties. Anyone found to be encroaching or the keeper coming of his line would go through the same delay of game warning process above.

Would the presence of a timer for stoppages have a positive impact on football? – Part 5

14/04/2020/in Changes to the game /by Liam Bonney

Substitutes and balls cleared into the stands aside there is not much in rules that forces the game to restarted overly quickly, and it is largely up to the referee’s discretion to do so. If the referee wants a frenetic free flowing game then the referee may allow free kicks to be taken quickly, warn time wasters early in the game and be more lenient on 50/50 fouls. If a referee wants a slow, very controlled game then they would do the opposite to that listed above. Let’s look at free kicks first. Free kicks according to numerous studies are the single biggest cause of lost dead ball time.

Free kicks often require the ball to be fetched, placed then kicked forward if it is in the defensive half. Occasionally an annoying opposition player gets in the way or the goalie will take the kick if getting players forward is the main objective.

In the offensive zone however, this process is infinitely longer. The center backs who are usually the taller players lumber forward to take their positions whilst the kick is usually taken by the dead ball specialist in the team and more recently has at least a left and right footer standing over it. If the ball is within 30 yards then there is an additional amount of time for a minimum 2 – man chat of who is going to take it. From a defensive point of view an opposition player usually stands right over the ball and waits for the referee to mark out 10 yards from the ball that players have to stay out of. This is compounded further if the goalkeeper must set a wall and the more people in that wall the more time it takes to set up.

But what if there was a time limit on how long teams had to take a free kick. Currently the average amount of time it takes to take a free kick is 30 seconds. With an average of 20 fouls per game this adds up to around 10 minutes of wasted time. By dropping this time to a fixed 15 second cap you would instantly reduce the amount of time lost by 5 minutes.

Would the presence of a timer for stoppages have a positive impact on football? – Part 4

07/04/2020/in Changes to the game /by Liam Bonney

A more recent change to help speed-up the game is to do with substitutions. Players originally had to come off at the halfway line on the same side as the substitute was coming on. Presumably this was to stop teams simply subbing a player on without one potentially coming off. Meaning that the team that had made the substitution would now have an extra man on the field. In the early stages of when substitutes were allowed there was not as many cameras around and the support for referees was not as good as it is now. So, the traditional system was an easy way to keep track of who went off and who was coming on to replace them.

This, like the multi ball system had its own issues. Substitutes are often used as timewasting methods by teams. Players being subbed on in the final 5 minutes of regulation time or even stoppage time can hardly be assumed to make much of an impact. They do however often waste a good minute or longer in game time. Especially if the player is coming from the far corner of the ground and decides to walk off at a very slow pace.

In response to this referees, can be seen jogging the player off themselves, even going as so far to brandish yellow cards for timewasting if the player continues to take to long.

Under the new rule though, players must now exit the field at the nearest sideline. Therefore, reducing the slow-motion stroll of the pitch of some players. This drastically reduces the amount of time substitutes can waste time, instead of walking up to 70 meters if they were in the far corner, they would simply be instructed to walk off the one meter to the nearest touchline. Now there has been some confusion with this, some players still try to come off at the traditional spot, but these are just teething issues as players adjust rather than actual faults in the system.