A&H

how long, ref?

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richard ramjane

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I ran a line Saturday afternoon, and there were a lot of people present. League officials and referees that officiate on that league, and a few refs that just live local to the game. Reason being, the home team were being crowned league champs that afternoon having sealed the title the week previous.
Anyhow, in the bar afterwards, I was chatting to one of the spectator refs and he had been stood in my vicinity for most of the game. He offered me the following advice, which I took on board, but was just wondering what the general consensus in its regard.
77 minutes gone and one of the home team walks over to me to enquire how long we had left.... to which i responded, 13 minutes, plus whatever the ref would like to add for stoppages.
The advice given to me was to be a little vaguer with my response, so as not to compromise the ref.
 
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I ran a line Saturday afternoon, and there were a lot of people present. League officials and referees that officiate on that league, and a few refs that just live local to the game. Reason being, the home team were being crowned league champs that afternoon having sealed the title the week previous.
Anyhow, in the bar afterwards, I was chatting to one of the spectator refs and he had been stood in my vicinity for most of the game. He offered me the following advice, which I took on board, but was just wondering what the general consensus in its regard.
77 minutes gone and one of the home team walks over to me to enquire how long we had left.... to which i responded, 13 minutes, plus whatever the ref would like to add for stoppages.
The advice given to me was to be a little vaguer with my response, so as not to compromise the ref.

The player asked you a question politely and you answered it honestly, accurately and politely. I've got no problem with answering as you did. Why be vague? No need to be cagey at all.
 
You could try the response they don't expect..... 'about 8'' pal, mind you it is a bit parky today!' :(

Or tap on your ear to the invisible earpiece pretending that you've got help from somewhere else!
 
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To players I always respond with the time left "plus extra" so in your case middle or line I say "13 plus extra time". Exactly as you do it implies it's not less than 13 but it's more and we'll see what happens - they can't possibly keep accurate time from there.

However if I'm AR1 and a manager with a phone out asks me how long I generally says I'm not sure - "about 15" or "about 20" as I'm so incredibly focused on the second last defender I can't look at my watch...only because I know they are clocking it. Doesn't seem like this was your case though.
 
How about "plenty of time for your team to equalise if they put their minds to it"?

Seriously, if anybody asks me how much longer is left, whether I'm on the line or in the middle, I always round up - so if 13 minutes left on my watch I would reply with "about 15". When you're on the line, you don't know how much is going to be added, and if you're in the middle you probably haven't made your mind up at the point of being asked. Unless you've got a 4th official, you're probably going to be flexible on added time anyway - you don't want a surprise equaliser in the 93rd minute of a cup semi-final and have to play extra time, do you!
 
We can try and be cute about funny answers - but as an assistant the standard response should be " we have been playing ** minutes". Given a length to play can be dangerous - you watch could be slow, longer injury time than you expect has (or does) occur.
 
We can try and be cute about funny answers - but as an assistant the standard response should be " we have been playing ** minutes". Given a length to play can be dangerous - you watch could be slow, longer injury time than you expect has (or does) occur.

yes thats how it was explained to me on saturday ... it does make sense when you consider the possibilities of what may happen.
 
I don't see there being any problem saying how long is left, as long as both watches report the same. However, you really need to clearly caveat it with "plus whatever the referee adds on for stoppages"
 
Trying to be clever, funny or too vague will only wind the benches up. I have been instructed to give an approx time left making sure the phrase' plus added' is included. If asked how much Is to be added I would reply- that's the refs call.
 
I always reply with how much time has been played. Safer that way.

I do this too, much to players' and coaches' confusion and/or amusement. The amount of times some smart ass has pointed out that I hadn't correctly answered the question as I was actually asked how long was left to play :rolleyes:
Then there are those who really struggle with the maths of working out roughly how much is left to play once I reveal that 33 minutes have passed in this half!
 
We can try and be cute about funny answers - but as an assistant the standard response should be " we have been playing ** minutes". Given a length to play can be dangerous - you watch could be slow, longer injury time than you expect has (or does) occur.
How is saying 'we've played 77' more dangerous than '13 to go plus stoppage?'
I see no reason to be vague until we're down to the last couple of minutes, or until we're into stoppage (although if the ref has communicated his stoppage time amount to you then you can at least communicate that).
 
I don't see an issue with being specific, as long as you're clear with them that you're not including added time and that you haven't been stopping it so can't tell them how much there is.

As @CapnBloodbeard says, I don't see what is gained by being vague about it, except right near the end of the game or injury time. The only thing I do is round down, so if my watch says 12.44 left to play of the 90, I'll say 12 minutes + added time left. That way, if someone starts a timer then I know I'm not going to cause myself a problem with them by blowing up 'early'.
 
How is saying 'we've played 77' more dangerous than '13 to go plus stoppage?'
I see no reason to be vague until we're down to the last couple of minutes, or until we're into stoppage (although if the ref has communicated his stoppage time amount to you then you can at least communicate that).


Maybe because one is factual and one is variable?
 
The guy above me asked a question, the use of the ? mark is a clue
I have replied with what I deem to be an answer to said question

Am sure you can report someone to admin or whoever if you feel the need, other than that, kindly refrain from making reference to my persona, as, I myself have just considered YOUR post to be discourteousness to myself.
 
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