Question Number: 19191

Law 7 - Match Duration 5/24/2008

RE: Competive Under 17

Tim Van DenHeuvel of Medowie, NSW Australia asks...

A team mate as kicked the ball passed the goalkeeper and is heading into the goal. There is no one who can get to the ball to stop it. The ball is about 1m from the line, and then the ref blows full time. as the ball is going in. Can he do this?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Of course he can - if, in his opinion, time had expired, it has! Whether he should blow time or not at this juncture is a matter for discussion, though - as we've noted many times on this site, time keeping in a game is not a science, it's an art. I would be loathe to blow my whistle at this moment unless I knew I had added every missing second and then some, and in that case, I would have no choice. Minutes are one thing, a few seconds is another. Blowing your whistle when a ball is clearly going into the goal is not for the faint of heart.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Yes he can!
In law the goal can not count as the referee has signalled the end of play BEFORE the ball had completely crossed the goal line under the crossbar between the posts!
Should he though is another matter entirely!
As much as it is unfair to defend longer than to shorten play to deny an attack, time is relative and rarely to the micro second. It is a referee's duty to play a match until it is completed. That time is his to control but he is expected to be aware of the situation and not be looking at a watch while a ball is rolling into goal.
There are times when it will be difficult to satisfy both teams as it is MYTH that a referee MUST allow an attack to finish. While he COULD wait till a less controversial time to end a match, time is up when it is up in the opinion of the referee!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Of course he can. The referee is the official timekeeper of the match and it is over when he says it is. If he blows the whistle before the ball crosses the goal line into the net there is no goal. That said, if he did this he better be prepared for some hostile fans and participants. The referee is required to add time that is lost during play. Perhaps a wiser referee would have added a few more seconds.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Tim, I keep time with my main watch which has a vibrate function. It is a "timer" which means it counts down from a set time. This is the watch I stop for injuries, subs and other things which the Laws oblige me to stop time for. So when it does go off I blow for the end of the half or match. BUT I use common sense. Quite a few years ago in a World Cup there was a very well known English referee by the name of Clive Thomas, who allowed a corner kick to be taken near the end of the game. The kick was taken and while the ball was on the way to the goal he blew his whistle for the end of the game. The ball went straight into the net just one second after his whistle. No goal. Mr. Thomas was right, time has expired. Unfortunately he never got another international game. He forgot about Common Sense!

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Throughout the world of Football ending a match in this fashion is a difficult sale, except US high school and the US National College athletic Association [NCAA] when time is kept by a timer.

Time ends when time ends and blow at that time but remember a second or two of delay will make up for time lost as well and making up for time lost is at the referee's discretion.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Yes. The only time the match must be extended is for the taking of a penalty kick. If all the time was up, then all the time was up and the match ends. It is not like basketball where the match ends when the shot is done.