Question Number: 26568

Law 7 - Match Duration 7/23/2012

RE: select Professional

mac of sandpoint, id u.s. asks...

This question is a follow up to question 26434

I understand stop-age time can be added by the ref. However during tournament play, where the rules state, 'all games shall be two 30 minute halves'. So if a goal is scored in the 32 minute, can that goal be taken away?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
Play continues until the final whistle which is blown when the referee decides that time has fully elapsed.
The only way that a goal can be taken is away is by the referee deciding that the game had ended before the goal was scored. The only other option is to protest to the organising body with irrefutable proof that the game's timing was incorrect. That would be indeed rare and it would usually happen in the situation of a clear significant timing error. In general most competition organisers see the referee's onfield decision as final except in the misapplication of the Laws.
I might add that I have been questioned on a number of occasions regarding timing and in all the situations my timing was 100% correct with two watches. Indeed on the most recent one, a coach suggested that I had only played 40 minutes when I had played 45 minutes plus 3 minutes of added time confirmed by my countdown watch and also a count up watch which I showed to him. He still doubted the correctness of the timing??

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

All leagues and tournaments provide for the time for each half (which may be less than 45 minutes), but Law 8 permits the referee to add time as appropriate in all matches absent a specific league or tournament rule to the contrary.

(E.g., some tournaments provide that the match shall end five minutes before the next schedule match. As a practical matter, there is often very little time in tournament schedules to add time, and it is rare that a referee will have the luxury to add two minutes. But only the referee can determine when time expires.)