I just caught the last part of Uconn-Saint Johns on FSC. I've also been to a few college soccer games. How ridiculous is it that in college soccer, the clock counts down and the game is over exactly when the clock hits 0:00? the crowd counts down from ten, and the players essentially stop at 5 seconds left. So college soccer doesn't follow FIFA rules. i wonder why?
count down good question cabanes. isn't it stupid, and almost embarassing - like an adult to a 13 yr old. 10, 9, 8, 7....1 yeah!! makes you sort of want to cringe. they don't even do that in rec league. it's the stupid ncaa mentality. they should adopt fifa rules and just make it simple.
Re: count down I actually think it's a better rule than "the referee arbitrarily adds time." I would like to see an actual time keeper. So you know you got 90 minutes of play, no more, no less. And while it might eliminate some of the end of game situations where the referee allows one more attack, you might see even more furious attacking earlier than before because you know you have to score before time is up. Plus I've just heard a lot of casual and non-fans whine about it. Idiosycracies (sp?) can be eliminated. The way the clock counts does not seem to me to be critical to the way soccer is played. I also thing the college substitution rules could be expanded (maybe baseball-style substitutions: unlimited but you can't reenter at all) to professional club soccer.
i decided to revisit this post, and taco, I've got to disagree. Let me share why I think the countdown is bad, and added time is good. First, as we all know, duh when the game starts time starts. After 45 minutes, the ref at his or her discretion can add supplmental time depending on whether the ball went out of bounds, injuries, lost time due to scoring celebrations, etc...you name it. By not stopping and starting the clock everytime there such an occurence the game has a certain natural flow. Second, the "arbitrary" addition of time isn't so arbitrary. It's not like "Oh I'll either add one minute, five, or maybe ten." Depending on the amount of goals scored, substitutions, or other events, the referee decides, approximately, how much time of playing was lost. Then this time is added to the final 45. Third, the no more no less, all or nothing time limit wouldn't be fair in my opinion. Yes, halves are 45 minutes but the mentality and tradition of the sport isn't that of basketball where exactly at the buzzer, the game is over. The sport is simply different in that respect. Fourth, can you imagine a referee stopping a game right as a team is about to score or perhaps as a player is about to shoot because the 45 minutes are up? The furious attacking you talk about before time is up does occur (generally when the game is important) and I'm certain most would agree. You're right that in theory the counting down isn't inherenetly bad, i have no problem with that, its the idea that the game is over exactly at when the clock strikes zero. Anyway I think it's pathetic that the NCAA doesn't follow FIFA rules...
It's awful! The countdown needs to be abandoned. Also, all "Soccer Clocks" should be mandated to count upward to 45' at the half and 90' at the end of regulation. This counting down stuff is ridiculous at this level!
In the UCSB thread, they have been talking about how at last weekend's game against Loyola Marymount, a shot was taken before the clock hit :00 and the buzzer sounded, but the ball went into the goal (or more exactly, crossed the entire goal line between the posts and under the crossbar) after the buzzer. So the referee disallows the goal (correctly, according to current rules), because it crossed the goal line after the buzzer 00 on clock) even though the shot was taken before the buzzer. That sucks!
So you're saying that the clock at Highbury needs to count up instead of down? If the direction of the clock affects your enjoyment of the game of soccer, I recommend that you start taking in games with no visible clock.
I went to a game at VCU the other day. I can accept counting down on the clock as a matter of difference, no big deal. But the announcer actually came over the PA and counted down the last 10 seconds. I can't fathom any reason for this, I've never seen it happen in ANY sport. Lame.
Well, if the clock stays the way it is, having the announcer count down is probably better for the players as they know exactly when the half/game will end. Isn't it just as arbitrary if the ref "decides" to add exactly 3 minutes, and let's play go 3 minutes and 5 seconds just because a play is developing near the goal; effectively allowing the players 90:05 of playing time? Imagine all the "the ref added way too much/too little time" arguments you'd have. I realize they do it that way elsewhere, but FIFA refs are far more qualified and under much more stringent watch; if they clearly mess up, there may be ramifications. If a college ref questionably adds too much time, nothing is going to happen. Honestly, the players (except USCB recently), don't even think about it. In 4 years I never heard one single complaint from another player about the clock - it's just the way it is. I liked knowing exactly when the game was going to be over.
I think that by not playing with FIFA rules, you ARE hurting the sport. It is a joke and mockery. It was tried in MLS, thank god they got rid of it. Stop trying to Americanize this beautiful sport. As for regs adding "abritrary" time, it is a part of the game. It is the himan element. Only in America, Only in America would they think of changing the rules because they think that people are too dumb to understand "injury time", the world understands it and so should we!! That is why I refuse to watch College soccer, it is not soccer, it is a farce!
I understand your points, just don't agree with them. Why allow that "human element" to possibly lead to human error? What if a ref adds 3 minutes when they should add 1, simply because they forgot how much time to add, and guessed? A goal gets scored in what is the 92nd minute of actually play time. Is that fair? Is that justified on the "human element" of the game? Who is too dumb to understand injury time? What does that have to do with anything? Kids in the US grow up playing with ref added injury time. To say we're too dumb to understand it is a really bad argument, and really makes on sense. I guess my point is, by taking uncertainty out of the duration of the game, it ensures that at least one aspect of the game will be fairly judged (by fairly, I mean unquestionably). If it were up to me, I'd have instant replay in the MLS for questionable offsides calls that result in goals. After all, why should human error by a ref take away a legitimate goal?
The NCAA are a bunch of sanctimonious blue-noses who have to justify their existence by insinuating themselves into every little detail of every sport they oversee. They are to college sport what the Taliban is to Afghan civic and religious life.
I dont think the clock issue is as big of a deal as substitutions in college soccer. Have you been to a game where in the last 5 minutes all that the team down a goal does is sub, sub, sub, just to stop the clock? I suppose that goes hand in hand with the clock rule, but either I would like to see stoppage time added, or substitutions done FIFA style with 3 (or at the very least, like they do in PDL with, I believe 5 substitutions a game).
I disagree with this second statement. As a college referee, I can tell you that players consistently complain about the clock on the field. This clock system makes time wasting much more difficult to control for a referee and losing players no that. When I do a PDL match I can simply add time for those little time wasting tactics. In college, I have to caution every player I feel is timewasting if I want to stop the clock. Players all know this and hate it...though they don't seem to complain when they are up a goal. I can also tell you that in the last 1.5 seasons I have had 2 instances exactly like the UCSB game. One was just prior to halftime of a D1 match when we pulled back a goal for the home team that was kicked prior to the horn but crossed the line after the horn. The second was even worse as it was the last regular season match in a D3 match and one team needed to tie or win to advance. They were down a goal with a CK and seconds to go. The cross was made, ball headed, horn sounds, ball crosses line...no goal and you are on the road for the playoffs. In my opinion, this is completely against the spirit of the match...particularly when the clock operators are rarely even close to accurate...even in D1 matches. Lastly, the counting down from 10 to 1 may sound ridiculous, but it is written in the NCAA rule book and must be done if a PA system is available.
Thank god NCAA hasn't put their grubby hands on Rugby and it still operates under the USARFU jurisdiction. If only college soccer could go this route...
Actually, a performance by the infamous "countdown man" is required whether there's a functioning PA system or not. The requirement is that the 10 second countdown must be loud enough to be heard in the bench area. There's no requirement that it be heard anywhere else. An announcement when there is one minute left used to also be required. That requirement has been taken out of the rules athough the "one minute left" announcement is still made at many games. According to the rules, the clock could actually count up or down. Having the clock count down is "recommended", not required. I've been to a few games where the clock counted up, 0 to 90 minutes, but not in the last few years. Even if the clock counts up, countdown man is still required.
So if the clock counts up, what is the 10 second count? 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 45 minutes ?
The NCAA rules are created by college coaches from divisions 1, 2 and 3. The rule book is edited by a D2 coach. I know quite a few college coaches (none on the rules committee, however) and they feel no need to justify their existence. If the coaches want to change to the referee adding as much time as she thinks best, that is certainly within their power. I'm sure the team that UCSB was playing thinks the statis quo is a great rule!
Playing rules are downloadable at http://www2.ncaa.org/media_and_events/ncaa_publications/playing_rules/index.html Note that the clock-count-down, stop-for-goals, etc. was exactly the rules in the old (1970's, 1980's) ASL. The NCAA is sometimes slow at making rules changes. It is actually harder now to change rules. A proposed rule change must be approved by the three seperate boards for D-I, D-II, and D-III. If there is disagreement, it goes to some kind of super-committee on playing rules. The three-way approval became necessary when the NCAA seperated its governing structure into the three divisions.
This happened at the end of regulation today in the game between Santa Clara and Gonzaga. And Gonzaga won in OT. That's just crap. Correct decision by the referee if he was right about the sequence of events, but the rule is crap.
Actually, if you read the FIFA rule, the game is over when time is over. However, "official time kept by the referee" is interpreted to allow the referee to let the final play go on, since the time is not up until the referee says it is. I would like to see a study, if we were able to track how referees add time and let the final play go, how many times a game deciding goal was scored in the time that would not have existed in a college game. I gotta believe it's between 1-5%. I'm not arguing that either rule is right (those are the rules of the competition), but I doubt this rule is causing a ton of games to end differently. Show me 10% or more, and then I might side with a need to get rid of the college timing rules.