Since the stadium scoreboard is the "official timer" in many states, not having a horn or a countdown does not make sense. With the ball in the attacking half in a close game, the referees need to concentrate on the game - not the clock! I have been checking with the timer to either have a horn or a countdown. This is because of several incidents where neither was used and a goal was scored at or after the game! It was news to several timers that a 10 second countdown is required!
And I posted, a long time ago now, about a colleague who was doing varsity girls solo (dual partner didn't show up). The announcer counted down faster than the clock was ticking. Small portable clock at the halfway line, no horn. At "zero" the clock still had four seconds and the home team put the ball in the back of the net for the only goal of the game. I got a call from the visiting school's AD the next morning...…..
Which are all reasons why my whistle is the final "horn" IMO. Personally, as I hear the count start. I do a quick double check when I have a second in the last 10 seconds to see if it is matched up. Once I am confident, when they reach "One" I will look at the Scoreboard if I can, if not I will blow the whistle @ "zero" and let the chips fall where they may. I have had 2 matches in probably thousands of HSV matches that it has been close to being a issue.
Well I've had it be an issue or almost an issue about four times already this fall. I guess I'm cursed.
Sigh... I remembered reading this post, but failed to execute it two days ago in my final HS game this season. HSGV, both teams in the top 10, I'm AR1. Home's clock horn is usually "good enough". Corner kick called at far end with about 0:12 to go in 1st, tied 1-1, I'm up at the half line watching play and listening for the horn since my watch was 2-3 secs off from recent stop/starts. The game clock is now 180* behind where I'm looking - back on the stadium's outer wall. It did NOT register with me that there was no 10 second countdown happening over the PA ... (strike one) With maybe 0:02 (?) to go, attacker ricochets one off the post. Players' feet are flailing, kicking the ball around in the box, and fans in the stands and the players behind me are going nuts... Loudly... I am unable to hear the horn around the time I expected it ... (strike two) Of course, with somewhere between +0.25 and -0.25 secs left in the half, the ball ends up in the net. And I've got nothing concrete to tell my CR . (strike three) He thought his watch was sync'd close enough with the game clock, so he went with when it alarmed. Of course, 50% are thrilled and 50% are outraged.
One thing that I usually do if I cannot see the clock and there is no countdown over the PA is that I countdown to myself. That way I have a rough idea about the time that is left.
Before the first half last night, the clock operator asks me if he should stop the clock with 5 minutes left. I asked him if he knew what to look for and he said "yes, of course". I mentioned a few weeks ago I've been impressed with clock operators/admins this year, so I didn't think to go over all the details again. My mistake! Well, he most certainly did not know what to look for. Caution, injury and goal, and Mr. Accurate was off by about 45 seconds. I was on the far side and didn't have the "official" time for the first half so I didn't make a scene of getting it corrected. That, and the operator was about 40 rows of bleachers up with about 100 people in between. Then at 0:00 the horn didn't even sound! My "partner" had bigger weaknesses to work on than the exactitude of clock management anyway. For the 2nd half I was on bench side and informed the teams I would be keeping official time on the field. He stopped the clock at 2 minutes. The game was too intense for me to constantly be worried about the time being wrong. Of course, we go to overtime and play both full 10's, ending as a tie. Of the multiple fires I had to put out, at least the clock didn't become one of them ...
I worked with a referee (AR at the time) ,who would loudly count down the last 10 seconds if the time keeper wouldn't do it (like most timekeepers I've worked with). I haven't had the opportunity to do it myself, but it seems like a great idea.
See 5.3.2 Situation C "When an official timer is not available, the head referee will count down the last ten seconds of each period of play. RULING: Incorrect procedure."
This^ Which is really strange. For a rules body that does everything it can’t to make a timing system that has so many places it can fail why ban a practice to help?
Got me. In fact, we had a game Tuesday night that had a goal scored at the end of the game. No count down from the PA announcer who, apparently, was more interested in doing a 'play by play' on the game. [talk about annoying!]. Clock at the opposite end of the stadium from where the play was taking place, so even the trail AR could not see both the clock and the action. To make matter worse, the horn was very, very weak. None of the officials heard the horn at any time, before or after the ball entered the goal. I'm assuming there was a lot of exclamation around the attempted goal at that time. The game was 1-1! The referee said that his unofficial of course watch still had a fraction of a second left and he hit the stop button as soon as he saw the ball had entered the goal. After all three officials discussed it for five minutes, they concluded that there was the referee's watch saying that time had not yet expired and they had no substantive evidence that the stadium clock time had expired before the ball entered the goal, so they gave the goal and the 2-1 win to the home team. Visiting coach was, of course, not happy, but the players all seemed to accept it. This probably means that the visiting team will not be able to make the playoffs this year.
I don't think any of clock operators count down the time at any HS venue we service. At least one doesn't have (or mostly doesn't have) a working horn.
That seems to be the theme more often than not. NFHS really should stipulate that if ANY of the required functions or features of the timing system cannot be or is not fulfilled that official time is kept on the field with the referee.
Here's an idea... I think in basketball (at least college), don't the officials have buttons on their belts that start/stop the clock (maybe just stop)? Have the same kind of system for HS soccer. Scoreboard operator is responsible for setting the correct time, keeping track of scores/shots, whatever, but the CR actually has the start/stop? Sure, there would some technical issues to figure out, but our MS fields (including "pointyball" and HS fields (also including pointyball) are currently wireless from the controller to the board as it is. So there... crowd/coaches/players get to see the time and officials get the control. Done and done.
As I understand it, NBA and top tier colleges have timers that permit the referees to start the clock and that are tuned to the frequency of the whistle so the clock is literally stopped by the whistle. (I think they can also push a stop button, but I'm not sure.) It is very generous of you to offer to fund the installment of these in high schools across the country and then train the referees to use them . . .
I actually found the company that makes the system and they have one for soccer that doesn't trigger off the whistle. I haven't called yet to see how much it costs. https://precisiontime.com/
While I do enjoy high school sports, I do think that we could spend educational dollars on something more important than professional level scoreboards. How about paying teachers an adequate salary? Or having 21st century technology available in every classroom?
While my suggestion was tongue in cheek, I do understand where you're coming from. BUT, using your argument, why do we have turf fields? Why do we have sports? Why do HS bands have semi trucks? How about spending money to get properly working scoreboards? Not knowing how much these systems cost, maybe it comes out of the teams funds? Or the officials chip some money in (it helps them out also)?
My wife worked for a scoreboard company a few years ago. Local businesses would buy advertising to pay for the fancy scoreboards, and any other money would come for the booster clubs. Not many school board dollars went to score boards. The whole over emphasis on sports over academics still exists - in high schools and colleges!
Well, turf fields can be cheaper than grass, depending on weather and usage. And you can get revenue from permits for playing 7 games each day on the weekend—if you did that on grass, you’d have a dirt field.