Question Number: 23019

Law 7 - Match Duration 3/28/2010

RE: select Under 18

jerry of clinton twp, michigan usa asks...

If team 'a' has the ball 25yrds from goal being down 2-1 and time expires on the refs watch, do you blow the whitle or wait to see if they can do something with the ball within 30 seconds?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jerry
Most defintely no. When time expires the referee blows the whistle to end the game.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Was there 30 seconds of lost time that the referee had not accounted for? Then the game should be extended those 30 seconds. It depends on how the referee times the game; some use stop/start the watch method while others keep a running total of time to be added.

But when all time has been accounted for, by either method, then the game should be ended.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

No. That would be patently unfair to the defending team. Once the referee has added up all time lost the whistle must blow and the game ended.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Referees focus on a different question than what to do when time expires on the referee's watch. Law 8 both mandates that the referee add for time lost during the match and grants the referee sole authority to decide how much time to add. Except in high school and college (where the clock stops), most matches will not end when the watch indicates full time.

In most matches, there are lots of circumstances which require adding time: injuries; balls kicked over fences or into gullies; gamesmanship (including unending substitutions by the leading team to use up time). But, simply deciding that the losing team should get another 30 seconds would not make any sense to me.

In deciding when time expires, including added time, the referee does not have to be a chronometer - - - adding 74.6 seconds or counting down the final ten seconds. That is not our game. Moreover, in choosing to add not less than X minutes, if additional delays occur during added time, the referee may also add time for them.

Few referees will decide that time is ended when a shot is in the air or there is an immediate attack in progress, although the law would support a referee who did.

IMO, the laws give the referee unfettered discretion over time so that the referee will use the discretion wisely. The referee who is prepared to wait until the immediate attack ends isn't favoring one team over the other, for the referee doesn't care which team has the attack and would allow such time in both halves equally. Moreover, in a match with extraordinarily unruly benches, the referee may choose not to end time when the match ball is near a coach who has been barely been unable to maintain control; why provoke a confrontation when in a few seconds, the referee can retrieve the ball from another location without any incident.

Nevertheless, when the referee determines that time expires, the match is over and should not be extended for the benefit of either team. The key, IMO, is how the referee decides that time expires.