Question Number: 22569

Law 5 - The Referee 11/22/2009

RE: Competitive Under 18

EM Pearson of Medina, TN USA asks...

I would appreciate your idea of a range for added time, if any, in the following scenario, and for what reasons you would add time.

This is a U17 Boys Div 2 Competitive game in the first round of the State Finals. As the second half comes toward an end and a decision about added time must be made Blue is leading White 1-0. The half has included the following: one goal, two yellow cards, two 30-second stops to assess injury, eight substitutions (subs must wait until player leaves pitch before entering), four balls kicked into neighboring fields where keeper must wait until he can run retrieve the ball. Would you add time at the end of the match? If so, how much (this can be a range) and for which reasons.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Time should be added, but only the referee can determine the correct amount of time. Generally, however, time is added only for unreasonable/unusual delays. Some delays are inherent in every match and do not justify added time:

(1) Goals are a normal part of the match, and time would not usually be added unless there is excessive celebration; (2) The cautions may be a cause for adding time depending on the nature of the circumstances.
(3) The time to assess an injury should be added; (4) Balls kicked away from the field is pretty normal in most amateur play, but if the delay is excessive, it could be a basis to add time.

Without having seen the match, I cannot guess how much time should be added.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Pearson
As you know added time is at the discretion of the referee and the advice is that time can be added on for time lost through:
? Substitutions
? Assessment of injury to players
? Removal of injured players from the field of play for treatment
? Wasting time
? Any other cause
I personally would not add on time for a goal unless the celebrations were excessive nor would I add on time for cautions unless they were for time wasting. Those are part of the match.
As regards substitutions I suspect that the losing team were reasonably smart about making the changes whereas the team that is winning may have been a bit tardy. The referee crew should manage that process quickly and not allow excessive delay. In the case of the ball being out of play that again can be part of play unless of course it was a deliberate ploy by the winning team to kick the ball away so that play would be delayed. Excessive delay should be taken into account.
In the example you quote yes I would add on time provided it was allowed under the competition rules. Some games have a fixed time no matter what transpires.
As a rough guess and with the caveat that timing is everyting I would add on for the injuries and the 8 substitutions and maybe a small bit for others so I would allow a minimum of 3 minutes and I could go to 5/6 minutes if time wasting was a factor in substitutions, ball out of play etc. I recently saw a PL referee add on an extra minute for an excessive goal celebration and it was timed and he got it correct by about 2 secs.
Finally I would always say to teams that they should play to the final whistle and that both teams have 90 minutes to get a result. After that it is outside their control and accept what comes either way.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If there were 8 substitutions, you most likely were playing under youth rules with unlimited numbers of substitutes and right of re-entry. In that case, substitutions are part of the game flow, and time would be added only for excessive delays while subbing. Otherwise every 30-minute U-little half would take nearly twice as long to complete.

When a team changes their pattern of subbing late in the half, then you consider whether they are trying to play out the time. For example, there had been 5-10 minutes between substitutions, and they were swapping 2-4 players each time. Now with 12 minutes left in the game, and ahead by 1 goal, they start subbing 1 player at every opportunity. The referee should notice this and after a couple repetitions would inform the team at the next request, 'OK, but I'm adding time you know.'

So your game could have as little as 1 minute to cover the two injuries. I think I'd probably be more likely to have about 2.5 or 3 minutes minimum, to also cover the cautions and waiting to retrieve the ball. (Could you have used more than one game ball?) If the other events were deemed to be excessive, it could stretch to as much as 6 or 8 minutes, but that would be only for extreme cases.