A&H

A strange five minutes

LHref

New Member
Strange incident in my final game of the season. Blue team winning 2-1 against Reds. The game was 85 minutes old and a weak shot falls at the feet of the Blue goalkeeper. His team are winning so he doesn't pick the ball up. If the Reds only lost by one they would avoid relegation on goal difference, if the Blues won the game they would be promoted. With both teams happy as they were the keeper kept the ball at his feet for five minutes plus two minutes added time and as the Red striker instinctively went to challenge the keeper his team yelled at him not to and so didn't. I took no action and can find nothing to suggest that I should have. Anyone disagree? What, if anything, would you do? Anything similar ever happened to anyone else?
 
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I think that nothing in the LOTG prevents it, and as a ref you're here to apply them, and only them (not what you think should be good sportsmanship).
I would have said something like "could you at least pretend to make some passes ?" but otherwise, not my problem..
 
I think that nothing in the LOTG prevents it, and as a ref you're here to apply them, and only them (not what you think should be good sportsmanship).
I would have said something like "could you at least pretend to make some passes ?" but otherwise, not my problem..
Totally agree with what you say, would've been nice if they could at least pretend :)
 
A difficult situation. This sort of thing has happened before in major games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gijón
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_AFF_Championship#Controversy - FIFA imposed a fine on both of these teams in this case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados_4–2_Grenada_(1994_Caribbean_Cup_qualification)

I think it has happened more recently as well, with quite stern punishments coming down for the USB on the teams, but I can't for the life of me remember the teams.

It may be worth reporting this to your league as it is grossly unfair on the other teams and also clearly not the spirit in which the game should be played. Furthermore, you don't really want to come up against one of the teams that missed out next season, as no doubt they'll hit you with 'Hang on, you're that ref that let the other teams fix a match,', although clearly you didn't as I don't think you could have done anything at the time.
 
You can't MAKE people play football but if you really wanted to you could report it to the legue... I'm on the fence with this one because in theory two teams: one who needs to at least draw to get promoted and another who needs a draw to stay up, could play each other and do exactly what those two teams did in the scenario above but for 90 mins instead of 5+.
But if it was the last min or so of play and both teams were happy with the result then I suppose a bit of passing around wouldn't hurt aslong as they made it look like they were at least trying to play. Again, it's never happened to me so I wouldn't know what to do lol.
 

The above is from a Huddersfield v Barnsley game a couple of years ago. The score as it was (think they were drawing....) kept both sides in the division so neither was in a rush to get on with the game. Skip to 3:30ish to see what I mean. Don't see what the referee can do in that situation - the ball is in play and I don't think there is an offence being committed
 
Please don't tell me that you played the 2 minutes injury time??? :rolleyes:

I'd ask both captains if they were happy to finish it there and if both agreed then I'd blow for full time.

If there was only 5 minutes left and it was on a local league, I'd finish it early, just say there was no added time :)
 
Reading some worrying comments from referees on this topic.
The Huddersfields vs Barnsley clip is appalling. Both teams should have been heavily fined.
If this happened in my match I would make sure I played every second of injury time.
The players DO NOT dictate the length of a match, and neither do we.
The competition rules dictate the length of match.
 
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Please don't tell me that you played the 2 minutes injury time??? :rolleyes:

I'd ask both captains if they were happy to finish it there and if both agreed then I'd blow for full time.

If there was only 5 minutes left and it was on a local league, I'd finish it early, just say there was no added time :)

Please don't tell me that you would discuss not playing injury time with the players!!! :rolleyes: What happens if the team relegated as a result of this finds out and complains? What happens if one team says "yes" and one "no"?

It's nothing to do with the players anyway "The allowance for time lost is at the discretion of the referee.":)
 
Please don't tell me that you played the 2 minutes injury time??? :rolleyes:

I'd ask both captains if they were happy to finish it there and if both agreed then I'd blow for full time.

If there was only 5 minutes left and it was on a local league, I'd finish it early, just say there was no added time :)
For clarity yes all of the time was played (including the two minutes extra) and I don't think that can be wrong can it?
 
At the same time though, I reffed a game last season blues v yellows - blues winning 11-0 with 10 mins to go... Player goes down injured and as he's being sorted the HOME manager said he was happy to call it a day because it was getting embarrassing. The away manager over heard and agreed. So I called it.
Bearing in mind the away team were down to 9 men, one off injured and one just walked off and went home "because it was sh*t". I can't describe the look of "I really don't want to be here and I'm sick of my life" on his face and personality.... I actually felt sorry for him :-/
 
For clarity yes all of the time was played (including the two minutes extra) and I don't think that can be wrong can it?
No you are perfectly within your right to do that, but I would be trying to end it quickly, I don't want to be waiting 7 minutes just standing waiting for my clock to run down. If it was me I'd end it early, upon the agreement of the captains/management. Then we could all go home happy :)
 
Please don't tell me that you would discuss not playing injury time with the players!!! :rolleyes: What happens if the team relegated as a result of this finds out and complains? What happens if one team says "yes" and one "no"?

It's nothing to do with the players anyway "The allowance for time lost is at the discretion of the referee.":)
If no one is doing anything then both teams are happy, if this is the case then waiting for 7 minutes will make no difference other than waste time.
If one team says yes and the other says no then we play on but I a situation like this, it is almost impossible for this to be the case.
If the team who gets relegated finds out it doesn't matter anyway because neither team was going to play anyway so the result would be the same.
Would it be any better if I just called time without consulting the teams?
 
Ending a game before the 90mn are complete is a technical offense from the referee and a justified re-match but yeah... Why would you spend 5 more minutes on the field... Fantastic logic
 
Ending a game before the 90mn are complete is a technical offense from the referee and a justified re-match but yeah... Why would you spend 5 more minutes on the field... Fantastic logic
Not if the two teams agreed to shorten the match before the start ;)
 
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