Question Number: 23115

Other 4/14/2010

RE: High School High School

Jim Hannon of Atlanta, GA USA asks...

Is it unsporting behavior for a team to try and kill time late in a game by continually taking the ball into its attacking corner to try and win corner kicks and throw ins and generally run the clock out? In high school soccer the scoreboard clock and not the refs watch determines official time.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Using time and space to maintain control of the ball in play is a legal strategy. The play at the corners has become a favorite strategy for the team who is ahead by one goal late in the match. The strategy, however, can also be provocative. If the opponents become frustrated, trouble may brew. The referee has lots to manage at the corner.

The NFHS rules provide that if there is a functioning stadium clock, the referees indicate when the clock starts and stops, but the clock is the official time. (Where there is no stadium clock, the referees may keep the time as under the laws of the game.)

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

There is a difference between wasting time and using time.

Wasting time is unsporting. It consists of doing things like delaying a restart.

Using time is simply good strategy. If the other team has an opportunity to get to the ball - even if they don't have the expertise necessary to do so - there is no offense. As Ref Wickham notes, the referee should be aware of escalating tensions. If a team can't get to the ball using skill, they may resort to hacking at ankles to get there - or any other number of offenses.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Just a comment. My fellow panelists are correct. Nothing wrong with using time to your benefit. My comment is that almost no one sees anything wrong when basketball teams slow down the game but we are routinely asked if soccer teams are allowed the same strategy. Yes they are. If the match is not run by FIFA/USSF rules teams may also exploit the clock by numerous multiple substitutions at every opportunity, clearing the ball out of play just a little too far, taking as much time as the referee will tolerate at restarts, and by other means. Note that all these examples take place while the ball is out of play. In all matches played under USSF rules, the referee is able to add time for anything as he/she sees fit. For example, with the clock winding down and Red team is up a goal, the coach subs 8 players at every opportunity. Nothing illegal, immoral, unethical, or fattening about it. However, if this happens in a game I'm working I tell the coach I'm adding time for every substitution and they stop the behavior. While the ball is in play, the referee cannot find any justifiable reason to add time. If tournaments don't allow any time to be added, this game management tool is taken away from the referee, and teams can run minutes off the clock that wouldn't be allowed with full USSF rules in force.

Of course, no one in my great home State of Georgia would dream of doing anything that could in any way be deemed unfair or unsporting as we are all perfect gentlemen and ladies.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

If one coach is using unfair delaying tactics in a high school game, the referee can stop the clock each time if there are repeated or lengthy substitutions, etc. However, the tactic you list of running the ball into the corner is perfectly legal - a headache for the referee - but legal.

In a regular USSF game, the referee has many other tools to use for unfair delaying tactics - but again, the bit about using up playing time in a legal manner is entirely different from wasting time.