Question Number: 32198

Law 5 - The Referee 1/28/2018

RE: Adult

Douglas Wix of Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom asks...

Dear panel,3 questions if you don't mind. At the recent Liverpool cup tie v WBA 4 minutes were added on despite being v.a.r.situations which took a while,a few injuries & substitutions when should have been much longer-why wasnt it?
2-when refs caution a player why are they not standing their ground & calling the player to them instead of walking to theplayer-players have become too powerful.
Finally when subs are used in added time,usually by the winning team why are referees NOT adding time on to added time? I.m.o.a full minute should be automatically added on if this happens.
Thank you in advance. Dougie Wix

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Douglas
Only the referee can advise what time was added on. Certainly time should be added on for VAR, injuries and substitutions. Now some referees use the 4th official to assist with time calculations for added time. In general I believe time is reasonably well calculated.
On the caution process it is up to each referee to manage that as he feels appropriate. Yes the referee can be standing their ground and being more commanding. Personally I have no issue with a referee going after a player to caution.
On the substitution in added time I have seen many refereees add on an additional 30secs for such. Now I know that in some competitions such as the CL refereees only play the time shown.
What I will say is that the timing of soccer is an issue and I think the game could take a leaf out of other game timing methods such as rugby. Having said that there is 90 minutes in a game. Relying on the discretion of the referee with a few seconds at the end of the game is not a good place to be.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Doug,
ITOOTR ( in the opinion of the referee)
life is rarely to the microsecond but your concerns are well founded for there is an expectational aspect that added time does not really fix ALL lost time but only a representative portion.

Subs are about 30 seconds so 6 subs should result in 3 minutes. You are correct, a referee CAN still add time of the sub IF the sub is used in added time!

The time it takes to retrieve a ball to make a throw in, get a goal kick off or corner kick underway are all possible time targets. It is WHY they added extra balls all around the pitch to CUT down the delay! Of course our most obvious time user is the injury situations which again are prone to guise and subterfuge as much as it takes time to ascertain a true injury or stoppage where the player requires medical attention. Now we have video reviews which again require time to sort out!

I personally believe there should be a PUBLIC clock/timer that starts & stops with the intervention of the referee. So none of the idle useless and often hostile reactions to extended play being too long or too short

The cautions and card thing is one of awareness , ego, pride and how bad do we need to set a bar to establish reasonable compliance and respect? Picking battles that need not be fought versus making it a cornerstone of absolute compliance to set the tone. I can grasp your thoughts that prima donna players be they skilful babies or reasonable veterans of integrity can test our patience. IN saying it is the players game we do try to stay out of it whenever we can but there are moments when player lose their focus and we NEED to step in to bring them back into the fold as it were! In as much as I support tough love paying fans are there to watch their teams play this includes their favorite players. WE can certainly be within the LOTG to get up into the face of those destined to make trouble if it is IMPORTANT we do so. Yet many a caution is accepted with tact acknowledgement and the player exiting is well aware of the card and why they have it . The just prefer to get on with it rather than have the referee tell them something they likely all ready know! Being on thin ice is not new to those who like to slip about! . You want to FORCE a faceoff do not be surprised if it causes fires as opposed to putting one out! Think a bit on attitude ,perception, character,, match importance etc. if it becomes a power play or a respect reset.
Cheers

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

See Question: 32205