The Ref Stop

First 11v11 game

The Ref Stop
Kes said:
Just so long as you're not blowing up as the ball is sailing into the net ... ;)

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In US high school rules for soccer, time is supposed to be kept by a timer, and if the buzzer goes off before the ball fully crosses the line, it doesn't count . . . .
 
The other thing I would suggest is never give precise timings in the last knockings of a game where you can avoid it.

I'd never refuse to answer a polite query of 'how long' - that's just rude.

However you say '30 seconds', someone is going to start counting and then you've potentially painted yourself into a corner. 'Not long now' if you can get away with it. If not 'inside the last minute' is still better than something specific.
 
Quarryref said:
The other thing I would suggest is never give precise timings in the last knockings of a game where you can avoid it.

I'd never refuse to answer a polite query of 'how long' - that's just rude.

However you say '30 seconds', someone is going to start counting and then you've potentially painted yourself into a corner. 'Not long now' if you can get away with it. If not 'inside the last minute' is still better than something specific.
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For a long time the tradition was to not give anything remotely specific, and really to give non-answers. When I started in the dark ages, suggested responses (at any time during the game) were things like "plenty," "enough," or "time to score a couple of goals." And heaven forbid anyone have the audacity to ask how much time was being added!! That softened with time, but I still never give a time that isn't qualified by "about" or "around" and as we get towards the end "a few minutes" or "not a lot."
 
Quarryref said:
The other thing I would suggest is never give precise timings in the last knockings of a game where you can avoid it.

I'd never refuse to answer a polite query of 'how long' - that's just rude.

However you say '30 seconds', someone is going to start counting and then you've potentially painted yourself into a corner. 'Not long now' if you can get away with it. If not 'inside the last minute' is still better than something specific.
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Thanks that's good advice! I'll try and remember when it gets close to the end to be a bit more vague!
 
socal lurker said:
In US high school rules for soccer, time is supposed to be kept by a timer, and if the buzzer goes off before the ball fully crosses the line, it doesn't count . . . .
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Here in Northern Virginia at least, I'm not sure of other states, time for High School games is kept on the scoreboard until the last 2 minutes. The scoreboard clock stops with 2 minutes left and an announcement is made that "Time is now being kept on the field."
 
NOVARef said:
Here in Northern Virginia at least, I'm not sure of other states, time for High School games is kept on the scoreboard until the last 2 minutes. The scoreboard clock stops with 2 minutes left and an announcement is made that "Time is now being kept on the field."
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That is a local change. (Actually where I am, a lot of schools don't have or don't use the scoreboard, so we often keep time of the field anyway.)
 
Quarryref said:
The other thing I would suggest is never give precise timings in the last knockings of a game where you can avoid it.

I'd never refuse to answer a polite query of 'how long' - that's just rude.

However you say '30 seconds', someone is going to start counting and then you've potentially painted yourself into a corner. 'Not long now' if you can get away with it. If not 'inside the last minute' is still better than something specific.
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This is good advice!

I've usually answered when somebody asks or I deny a coach a sub b/c time's almost up. Most understand 30 seconds could mean 30 seconds, it could mean 1 minute if somebody has an attacking opportunity.

Has never bitten me. But could definitely see a circumstance where it could.

Probably best to say something like "we're almost done" instead of the exact number of seconds left though.
 
Opposition parent near the end of a tight local derby game involving my son's U16 team a couple of weeks ago:
"How long left ref?"

Referee (looking at watch):
"Next goal wins!"

It went down well with all concerned, but I guess that might not always be the case.
 
I'll go with either "in the last minute" for 30-60s left or "nearly done" for less than that. I don't think there's anything in the laws that suggests time should be a secret though, so above that I'll give the correct time rounded to the nearest minute, never really had any issues with this.
 
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