by RoyalBlue »
28 Dec 2022 15:33
Nameless tmesis Nameless
You are suggesting introducing absolute and unnecessary chaos into the game ? The current way of ending the game makes absolute sense !
In all other sports that end with a clock counting down (even if not visible in the stadium) the games ends when the clock hits zero, and nobody complains at all
Rugby doesn’t end when the clock hits zero…..
If a game of football ended as a shot was on it’s way into an open goal there woukd be chaos .
It’s also unnecessary as football isn’t timed to the second, end play at a neutral point makes absolute sense.
Up until this year, US College Soccer (as opposed to their US Football) used a visible countdown clock. The ref clearly indicates when he/she wants the clock stopped and then restarted (injuries, yellow and red cards and instances where the ref feels a team is deliberately timewasting). IIRC in the last 5 (or maybe 10) minutes of a game it is mandated that the clock is stopped each time a substitution is made so as to stop a team trying to run the clock down that way. The stadium announcer counts down the last 10 seconds of each half so both players and spectators know exactly how long is left. On many occasions you see both teams pretty much stop playing in the last few seconds of the countdown.
In a recent game, I saw a winning goal in a play off match match hit as the countdown hit 3 seconds. Pandemonium ensued only for the stadium announcer to announce that there were two seconds left on the clock when the ball hit the net. The pitch had to be cleared of non-players and the game kicked off again with the losing team hitting a long shot towards goal.
I honestly don't know what happens if the a shot is hit and doesn't enter the goal until 'zero'. I guess it might be like basketball and it would count as long as it had been hit with time remaining. Unlike basketball, the likelihood of that actually happening is extremely small. I've not seen it happen in a good few years of watching quite a lot of college soccer.
Having said all this, I believe that the college countdown clock may have seen its last days as the NCAA are keen for their rules to become more aligned with the FIFA approach. In some ways I think that's a shame because personally I like the high transparency of the college timekeeping approach.