Ball Out Of Play

[TBW]

Just reading an article on BBC Sport website about the so-called "Fergie Time" as it tries to talk about how much added time we get in games and if Manchester United get any advantage from this. This though is irrelevant here and infact the most most interesting fact in there was this:

"In an average Premier League match the ball is out of play for 34 minutes (Design Technology)"

So, are we REALLY getting value for money when we attend a Football match? I've always wondered how much the ball is in play, how much time each player actually spends on the ball and all these other seemingly small facts but things like this do change the game immensely.

So, why don't we stop the clock whenever the ball goes out of play like a lot of other sports? (Basketball, American Football, Handball and more.) Why don't we get our value for money and play right up until the exact 90th minute?

The ticket prices are at £20+ and we're typically getting an hour of football by the end of things. Seems rather unfair really. At £20 a ticket we're paying 33p per minute if the ball is only in play for an hour. It's worse than a premium rate phone call and at least I get to laugh at that Rylan bloke annoying Barlow for another week with those.

[Robin101]

34 minutes? Really? I find that very hard to believe...but Science never lies...

[pride of the west]

34 sounds reasonable for prem. A few yrs ago i saw a stat for league 2 and on average the ball was only in play for 45 mins. If i remember rightly the article was promoting multi ball when it started coming in.

[RedorDead BCFC]

If the rules went that the clock stops when the ball is out o play, this would stop the deliberate time wasting.

Be a bit strange you would have some games finishing 10 mins before another.

[Super]

Sky used to show it after every live game, and it was around the 60mins Everytime.

[TBW]

It's crazy. It'd change the game massively but I'd like to see it trialed. Get a timekeeper on board for games.

[SimplyRed]

Stopping and starting a clock in football will never happen because the referee is the SOLE TIMEKEEPER. All time played in a football match is at the referee's discretion and his word on the timing of a game is final. A referee will NEVER be questioned or investigated about the time he has allowed in a game. Therefore, if a referee wanted to stop his watch every time the ball went out of play he theoretically could. However, it is impractical as he should be concentrating on the game, not whether his stopwatch is running or not.

As I recall from my refereeing days, the ball is in play for roughly an hour of the 90 minutes. The ball being 'out of play' is part of the game, in the same way that the referee is 'part of the playing area'. The referee can only pause his watch is for injuries, intrusions, deliberate time-wasting, goal celebrations and substitutions. He may also pause his stopwatch if he is giving a lengthy caution/lecture or waiting for a player to leave the field of play after a dismissal - in other words, any occurence which PREVENTS the ball being put into play.

It is worth remembering that a referee cannot caution anyone for 'time-wasting' if the ball is in play. By that I mean, if a player takes the ball into the corner to waste a few seconds off the clock - you might call it 'legal' 'time-wasting' as the ball is in play. Similarly, if the keeper releases the ball from his hands and dribbles it around his area, that too is not 'time-wasting', again because the ball is in play. Conversely, if a player deliberately wastes time putting the ball back into play when it is dead, then that is 'time-wasting' and the watch can be stopped and the player cautioned.