Question Number: 21454

Law 7 - Match Duration 6/1/2009

RE: Competeive Adult

John of newmarket, ontario canada asks...

I recently had a U16 competitive
girls game. With less than 1min left in the game the keeper got seriously injured in a fair tackle. she remained on the field for 4 1/2 minutes until everything was OK. How much extra time would I add to the game seeing that there was only 45 seconds left

thanks
jd

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

According to the Laws of the Game, you would add whatever time has been lost through injury, removal of injured players, wasted time, substitutions or any other cause.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Once you resume play, go for 45 seconds, because that was how much time was left when she got injured. If there was other wasted time to consider, add that onto the 45 seconds. If the injury was the only wasted time in the half, this has the effect of the game ending 4.5 minutes later than scheduled - the amount of time that was wasted by the injury - but they don't play 4.5 minutes extra.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If there was 60-45 seconds remaining when you stopped play because the keeper was seriously injured. It seems fairly obvious to suspend the time and play the 60-45 seconds upon the restart which I will assume is a drop ball if you did stop for the injury?

Consider the dynamics of the match since time is rarely to the micro second. Was it a blow out 7 to 0 on a very hot day and the team ahead in full control mode? Then perhaps playing all the bit extra is not as crucial as if a tie or we are in attack mode at the opposing end down a goal? The time added thing is a relative approximation given the needs of the match but it is as unfair to go too long as it is to cut it too short! As my colleague Ref Voshol points out was there additional time to be added from other incidents in the half?
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Assuming the clock is running during the 4 1/2 minutes it took for the keeper to recover, you would end the game 5 1/2 minutes after regulation time, or a little longer if time needed to be added for any other reason. What I would do is stop my watch for the injury and restart it after the injury were over

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

We had a discussion as to what is 'added time' as a result of your query. Generally we add time to make up for lost play time.

LAW 7 ? THE DURATION OF THE MATCH
Allowance for Time Lost
Allowance is made in either period for all time lost through:
? substitutions
? assessment of injury to players
? removal of injured players from the fi eld of play for treatment
? wasting time
? any other cause
The allowance for time lost is at the discretion of the referee.

In your situation there is a minute left (This minute is the time lost) but the delay with the injury recovery is longer than that minute. We actually suspend the match and restart from the point we suspended the match from. We do not PLAY another 4.5 minutes only add the minute that was left in regulation. Where as if this injury had occurred at say 35.5 minutes we restart at 40 minutes but add the full 4.5 minutes as ACTUAL play time to match total thus we continue playing for 9.5 minutes . The fact is the match still ends 4.5 minutes longer than scheduled in either case. We can not justifably end the match with the injury thus the match time is suspended until the restart where we add the 60 -45 seconds of play time