Question Number: 27340

Law 7 - Match Duration 4/22/2013

RE: 2 Adult

Garikai Kondanani of Harare , Zimbabwe Zimbabwe asks...

A referee indicates to the fourth Official that we have to add 3minutes of injured time.Officially the match Official indicates on the board that 3 minutes is to be played.Can a referee add more injury time in injury to 9 minutes after he has approved 3 minutes before during play?due to some injuries occurred in injury time?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Garikai
When the 4th official indicates a number of minutes on the electronic board it means that the referee will add on a minimum of that time shown.
Now during that period if there is further stoppages for injuries, substitutions or for whatever reason the referee can and should add on that lost time also.
So let's say that during the first minute of the minimum of 3 minutes which could be 3.30 of added time a player goes down injured and it takes 6 minutes to treat and remove the player from the field of play. The referee will restart play in the seventh minute and then play the remaining 2.30 minutes. He has only played 3.30 but 9 minutes 30 seconds of time has elapsed. That is the correct way to deal with it.
Personally I like rugby union's method of handling match time. The match clock is stopped by the referee for reasons such as injuries, substitutions etc and the clock only restarts when play restarts. The referee announces each time Time Off and then Time On when play resumes. There is no focus on the judgement of added time by the referee as teams must play until the 80 minutes of play has been completed. In fact most players or spectators could not tell how much time has been taken which sometimes could run to 10 minutes and there is no need to indicate added time. Players know that it is pointless in trying to 'waste' time through injury, substitution etc as the clock is stopped and it will not restart until play resumes. Also the ball must be out of play for the match to be ended, so when the time expires it continues until it comes to a 'natural' conclusion. Soccer could learn from it.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Yes. The referee can add time for things that happen during added time.

The indication from the fourth official is that there will be 'at least' X minutes of added time.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 29872