The Ref Stop

How long left ref? Plus how much added time?

DaveMac

DaveMac

RefChat Addict
Level 7 Referee
Got this alot at the weekend during a close game. Being asked how long left, plus how much added time. What I do is stop the watch when needed, so I dont actually know what minute we're in if the clock was left running. So I know we have 5 minutes till I blow for full time, but wouldnt say its the 88th minute and we have 3 minutes of added time for example, if that makes sense.

How does everyone else keep time, am I alone in doing this, if so I'd love some tips, that doesnt involve me having about 4 different watches on the go! haha!
 
The Ref Stop
I have two watches. One simply has the time on it. I don't look at this all game. I just have this so that I don't need to change my other watch to show the time whenever I want to know.

My other watch I stop when there is a stoppage like normal. If a player asks how long is left I tell them whatever is on that watch which would include added time
 
@Liam Cleary im the same. Two watches, so one as a stop watch and the other showing the time. Just incase my stop watch isn't working etc or something I can roughly stop the game by knowing when I've kicked off.

Lord knows I wouldn't want to throw another watch in, I'll have no arm space left. I wear a long sleeve shirt at all times, so would be a right pain having another watch! I'd be rolling my sleeve up all game!

I've not had a problem till recently that teams have been banging on about how much added time there is. Annoyingly I haven't had an decent one line response to the question about how much time is left. I might just take how long left on the stop watch and minus three minutes from that and just say, for example if I've got five minutes left, "two minutes plus stoppage time."
 
Two watches. One started at the kick off and counting up to 45. One started and stopped at each significant stoppage. So if asked how long, I'll say x minutes plus stoppage but try not to confirm how much stoppage as it could change a lot between then and the end of the half / game
 
Could you reply "x minutes in total including any added time so far"?

I like most others have one watch acting as a stop watch on my left wrist which I pause for injuries etc and hold up high if I want to show players I am stopping the watch for time wasting and on my right wrist I have a countdown timer from 45 mins with a vibration at zero.
If asked the question about the time I can easily answer the question in the main from my right watch, "How Long Left", and then late in the half I can can use just my stop watch which will tell me any actual plus stoppage time.
The watch acting as the countdown timer also shows the actual current time if required.

Quite a few senior referees I have worked with will in the main not stop the watch for anything except an obvious lengthy delay and add 1 min in the 1H and 3 mins in the 2H no matter what has gone on.
 
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So if asked how long, I'll say x minutes plus stoppage but try not to confirm how much stoppage as it could change a lot between then and the end of the half / game[/QUOTE]
I was saying similar and avoiding saying exactly how much stoppage but it was causing me grief from players on occasion, "every other ref tells us" in the end I went for x minutes to go plus x mins stoppage currently" as my standard reply when asked close to the end of a half to avoid any further questions as I had covered everything off in one reply.
The other thing I have also started saying is the answer much louder so other players can hear stopping many players asking the same question. This has worked well as it can get irritating. Be careful not to shout out too close to the player asking though.
 
Anthony said:
Quite a few senior referees I have worked with will in the main not stop the watch for anything except an obvious lengthy delay and add 1 min in the 1H and 3 mins in the 2H no matter what has gone on.
Click to expand...

:eek:
 
Anthony said:
Quite a few senior referees I have worked with will in the main not stop the watch for anything except an obvious lengthy delay and add 1 min in the 1H and 3 mins in the 2H no matter what has gone on.
Click to expand...

You mean like every single EPL, ECL and international referee does?
I sometimes think they pick injury time out of a hat.
Funny how fulltime is always blown at 93:00 or 94:00 not 92:23 or 93:52. Must just be a coincidence that every second of delay has added to an exact minute..... in every EPL match ever!
Oh, and stoppages that occur IN injury time SHALL NOT be added!!
We have to stop this match at 93:00 no matter what!
 
Russell Jones said:
Two watches. One started at the kick off and counting up to 45. One started and stopped at each significant stoppage. So if asked how long, I'll say x minutes plus stoppage but try not to confirm how much stoppage as it could change a lot between then and the end of the half / game
Click to expand...

I might give this a crack this weekend. So rather than just having my right hand watch showing the time, might set that off as well. Heres hoping I dont manage to massively confuse myself having two timers on the go for the first time!
 
Gentlemen, we all enjoy a laugh. However, Let's not cross the line *cough herts cough*.

Rules of the forum reminder: Abusive comments will be deleted. Resistance is futile and you will be assimilated. Let's not have warning points doled out at this time of night.

I think some of that may not be from the forum rules, but from Star Trek next generation.

Normal service is resumed.
 
I too also have two watches(who doesn't), the one on my left arm is a continuous stopwatch running and i only use it in case my right one goes wrong or if i forget stop start at any time....my left watch will always give me an accurate how long has gone and how long left.
The watch on my right hand is set to a 45 minute countdown and vibrate when it gets to zero that is when i blow the whistle for end of first half or full time.Also this is the one i stop start during the match for injuries,substitutions etc.So when someone says how long ref... i look at my right watch and it tells me exactly how long left.
 
DaveMac said:
Got this alot at the weekend during a close game. Being asked how long left, plus how much added time. What I do is stop the watch when needed, so I dont actually know what minute we're in if the clock was left running. So I know we have 5 minutes till I blow for full time, but wouldnt say its the 88th minute and we have 3 minutes of added time for example, if that makes sense.

How does everyone else keep time, am I alone in doing this, if so I'd love some tips, that doesnt involve me having about 4 different watches on the go! haha!
Click to expand...
I haven't had anybody ask how much added time ....yet.... what i usually say is "you have 5 minutes not including any further stoppages"
There is no such thing as added time each half should be 45 minutes......the only time you "add" time is for the taking of a penalty.
 
="SM, post: 40750, member: 397"]Gentlemen, we all enjoy a laugh. However, Let's not cross the line *cough herts cough*.

Rules of the forum reminder: Abusive comments will be deleted. Resistance is futile and you will be assimilated. Let's not have warning points doled out at this time of night.

I think some of that may not be from the forum rules, but from Star Trek next generation.

Normal service is resumed.
Click to expand...

Was the sarcasm/tongue in cheek not clear enough? Or are we going full on north Korea :D



I second those who have said one watch running up one running down. Tend to stop the countdown before the beep like a bomb defuser and guesstimate the time to add on and go up to 48/9 on the count up
 
Is there a danger of massively over-thinking this? Certainly at grass roots level anyway!

Two watches, start them both at the starting whistle, when it gets to 45 minutes then judge roughly how long you want to add on. Second watch incase the first one dies. You are the only person with a watch (grass roots anyway) and even then if you get a smart arsed coach timing it then you and you alone are the sole-time keeper. As long as you are playing even halves as stated in the competition rules then you can blow for HT/FT when you damn well please. Obviously this only applies to grassroots and my experience, though i'd hazard a guess thats roughly similar to a lot of new refs on this forum.

With regards to THAT question, if there's more than 2 mins to go then i'll tell them that roughly as a number, nothing more. I'll wiggle my hand if i'm not sure how long i'm going to add on yet. If there's less than that, i'll say 'not long'. Generally works a treat.

Incidentally, my record for being asked how long left was 5 minutes in to the first half, although that was U17s!
 
I only use one watch, never stop it. Only time I've stopped is in the case of severe injuries (at which time I am terrified of forgetting to restart). Has happened once, where a guy fell awkwardly and broke his arm. Other than that, I add time based on substitutions, time wasting and injuries and come up with a number. Whenever someone asks I tell them how long we've played, not how long it is left. Most of the players understand this. Sometimes they ask "played or left"? If I've called 22 or 23 minutes I reply "does it really matter?", which sometimes produces a laugh.

For younger players (new 'open age') they sometimes follow up with "are we playing 2 * 45?"

Once has my watch malfunctioned (battery on my Garmin acted up, had to throw the watch), at that time I ran over to my assistant and procured his watch.
 
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