I officiated a 2A Boys' Varsity game last night, and ran into a very challenging situation. The quality of play was quite high. White was home and Black was away. The black team was possessing like a boss. Passing from the back, and playing very controlled futbol. White was playing a more direct game, but it was working. The score had gone back and forth, and was 2-2 in the last few minutes. This is where it gets interesting. As the stadium clock hit one minute of regulation, black had a chance to score but was unsuccessful. They maintained possession for a time, but white intercepted. White made a charge toward black's goal the was interrupted a couple of times. I was the lead referee for white's attack. The stadium clock was at the far end of the field, and had no buzzer. As white made their final push, there were a couple of fouls for which I allowed advantage. There was a very close offside call, and that player scored. By the time I was able to look at the clock at the other end of the field, I was looking at zeroes. Suddenly, I was surrounded by both teams, black saying the scorer was offside, and white saying there was still time on the clock. I told black the player was not offside, and told the white team I had to confer with my partner about the time of the goal. My partner said he saw time on the clock when the ball crossed the goal line. I had no reason to refute his observation, so the goal was awarded. I won't mention the comments that were made after that. As you can imagine, there were several game critical decisions to make in a very short period of time. The main issue is the clock. As I mentioned, the clock had no buzzer so I had no way of knowing when it had reached zero other than seeing it. The clock was at the far end of the field, basically over my right shoulder. I'm curious whether any of you have faced a situation similar to this, and how you handled it.
I usually have a buzzer or no stadium clock at all. But if there's a stadium clock and it's behind me, I count down the last ten seconds or so in my head, just in case. (I also try to keep my own countdown vib watch synced to the stadium clock, but that's just about impossible.) But this serves to remind me for the upcoming state playoffs to confirm with the timekeeper that there's a buzzer on the clock. This also reminds me of a similar nightmarish scenario I had a couple of seasons ago. Varsity boys, local rivalry, largish crowd. Stadium clock died in the first half so we were keeping time on the field. At half I confirmed with dual partner that he had official time and would blow end of game. Second half home team came back from a two-goal deficit and tied it up. With no time left on my watch, they took it the entire length of the field, me thinking "time's up, blow, blow, holy crap they're going to score, blow..." no whistle and they scored. I had the visitor fans right behind me and they're going nuts. We let them kick off and then I blew time. "That was 48 minutes!" And I'm thinking well, yeah, three goals, three cards and two injuries - that sounds about right. Mass confrontation, mostly in Spanish, very tense, I was glad to get out of there. "I thought you had the clock." "I thought you had the clock." Sigh.
I don't think it's kosher under NFHS, but around here (when I was coaching HS) if there is a clock but no buzzer, they'll stop the clock at two minutes and keep official time on the field. I guess technically they are keeping the time on the field the entire time, and the stadium clock is just advistory. I'm not sure if it was a state adoption or just a tacit understanding. A local indoor facility uses a clock with no buzzer. One night this happened: 1) player took a shot. 2) Clock hit zeroes. 3) Ball entered the goal. 4) Ref blew his whistle. I forget if the goal would have tied it or won it, but all hell broke loose. I was the official--I believe we warded the goal. Shortly after that, the facility went to the same solution as above--clock is advisory and refs have the official time. We were instructed to actually set the clock to 1 minute less than the length of the half, and add one minute minimum of stoppage time. In short, without a buzzer and eyes that can look two directions at once like a chameleon, you can be screwed without a buzzer. If things are at opposite ends of the field there might be no way to be absolutely sure. My solution would be to simply not use the buzzer-less clock if possible.
I don't mean to derail, but do many states have boys high school soccer in the spring? Here (STL) it was a Winter sport and moved to Fall in the 1970's. Girls are played in the Spring.
In Massachusetts, the clock counts down until the final 2 minutes. If there is an announcer, they say, " The official time is kept on the field by the officials." Both referee's ( 2 man system) keep time, but the referee closest to the benches has the official time.
The coach of what ended up as the losing team approached me afterwards saying that neither of us were looking at the clock when the ball crossed the line. I asked him, "if you were watching both of us, how did you know when the clock reached zero, or when the ball crossed the goal line?"
I think maybe we've discussed this in the past - don't some of these scoreboard clocks sound the buzzer a second after zero shows, because they're still counting down tenths (0.9) or hundredths (0.99), whether they're showing it or not? Or am just I thinking that because more of the clocks around here are now switching to showing tenths once they're past the ten-second mark? I've noticed several times lately that when I'm counting down mentally, the buzzer seems to come about a second after I expect it. Maybe my mental count is fast, but I don't think so.
At one of the venues I worked last week the buzzer is not a normal electronic buzzer but instead sounds like an anemic electrically powered air horn. The clock has no tenths of a second so it reaches all zeroes at the start of the last second (I think). Under good conditions the horn sound begins about a second after zero and then increases in volume. On a bad day it can be 2-3 seconds until you hear a sound - if it sounds at all. After a failure of it to sound in a timely manner at the half of the VG, we ended on the whistle for the VG and the following VB game. In one case the goal was under attack, but fortunately there wasn't a close call to contest.
I am frankly of the opinion that if the buzzer doesn't work then you can't use the clock as official because it had to be the thing that sounds the end of the period. If the clock cannot perform all of the duties needed from it then you shouldn't use it.
I say you did things right. If your partner says there is still time on the clock, then there is still time on the clock. Award the goal, put time back on the clock, and have the team that was scored on kick-off even if there is only one second left. I personally would not use a clock if it didn't have some type of sound to end time.
Iowa is Spring for boys and girls. Most stadium clocks here have horns. In stadia, the JV game is before the Varsity, so in the rare case, we know it and know we have to deal with it. Just part of the environment we have. In Texas, soccer is a winter sport for both. Same situation with clocks.
I can't imagine that situation happening all that often, and it is the first time in the several years I have been doing NFHS matches with a stadium clock. So, lesson learned. The next time I'm at the venue, stop the clock at 2:00, and keep time on the field.
And what rule says that you can do this? It used to be an unwritten procedure in NJ (for part of the state), but now it's expressly forbidden to stop the clock at 2 minutes.
I don't remember if this is NFHS or just WI, but under the timekeepers responsibility is to LOUDLY count down the last ten seconds of the half or match. I remind every timekeeper to do this before the start of the match. Unfortunately, many of these HS "timekeepers" are just students themselves and so traumatized by having to take a speech class, there volume is not quite up to par. I will ask whichever AR has the best sight of the clock to help with the last 10 seconds only if the play is not in their quadrant. Even with all this, a game last week, no 10 second count down, and for some reason the scoreboards buzzer failed to go off. I stopped the first half at 45:05... After I picked up on the grumbling from the benches. Luckily no goals were scored in that 5 seconds.
There is a local school that has never had the auto horn enabled so it was part of my pregame that AR 1 is responsible for backing me up on the clock run out. They "fixed" that now by having the section of score board with the time die so official time is kept on the field. Rule 6 Section 2 Article 3c The official timer shall: countdown verbally the last 10 seconds of each period of play to the nearest official; They are also suppose to "signal to the official(s) when substitutions are to be made" I'd say that in article 3, only 2 of the 7 parts are done in Oklahoma; start the timing device... and signal when time has expired.
We used to have a high school that used an old pointy ball clock. It was wired to do something like 12 minute quarters. I liked doing games at that school because it allowed us to do time on the field. There was absolutely no way they could keep accurate time on the clock. We have a few that don't have buzzers. None of the schools we cover do the 10 second count down.
A number of points here: As Bubba says, it's a REAL good idea to know before the game starts whether the clock has a horn or not. See rule 5.2.2.c. Second, see 6.2.2. "The official timer shall use a visible timing device. The official time may be kept on a stadium clock." Now over here, in the real world, all too often there is no "visible timing device," stadium clock or otherwise. If a stadium clock is in use, it is the official time. The referee, naturally, keeps a backup and can adjust the stadium clock if there is a material discrepancy. 5.3.2 f and I. There is no authorization for stopping at two minutes. Third, as Bubba also said, counting down the last ten seconds (or so) in your head is a very good idea. Preventive officiating. Fourth, the head referee (not the referee with the biggest head) has the watch. On a dual, that means R1 and the rules do require that one referee is designated as the head referee 5.1.1. If your assignor does not assign one of you as the head referee, then you should work that out in a collegial manner before the game, lest you get hung up on something rare that requires the head referee to have the final say. And, of course, a story. A colleague was doing a varsity girls game, solo. (Dual partner did not show up.) The home school only had a small, portable clock, which was at the halfway line. Tie score as time is winding down in the second half, but the home team is attacking the goal. The announcer starts counting down the last 10 seconds. After he says "zero," the home team puts the ball in the back of the net. The referee counted the goal and even had the visiting team kick off. The next day, I get a call from the athletic director of the visiting school, complaining about the huge injustice done by this referee. This was a non-league game but a rivalry nevertheless. I told her, "Oh, it's on YouTube." She said that her school blocks YouTube, so she would have to go home at lunch to watch it. She actually called me back after lunch and told me, "I'll never trust that crazy coach again." The video, shot by a home team parent, showed that the clock still have four seconds on it when the goal was scored. The announcer had counted down too fast!
This is what I had wrong back at the beginning of the season. It's incorrect procedure for the referee to count down the last ten seconds, but it's correct procedure (and technically required) for the timekeeper to "countdown verbally the last 10 seconds of each period of play to the nearest official..." Rule 6.2.3.c
That is why I INFORM the timekeeper of that responsibility. sometimes it works other times. Not so much... My story, well my sons story. He is a pretty good player (better than his old man was but I'm not telling HIM that.). His freshman year, he is playing for Varsity boys, game over and they have a JV game after. He puts in time with JV team because they are short players and he is a freshman. Game tied with 10 seconds left in match, my son gets a break away and is heading straight for goal. Looks like something from a Disney movie. Then he says he was so flustered hearing the announcer counting down the last 3 seconds, he muffs the kick as it dribbles right to the keeper without him having to move. Game over... His friends never let him live that one down...
To the official means not over the loudspeaker? Although I guess that is to the official as well as anyone else. Actually I don't see any other way to count it down to the official as a timer isn't going to come on the field and run beside us to count it down. And I have been wrong as well as I did not remember correctly, the referee is NOT to count but someone is supposed to - has never happened including playoffs in my HS refereeing.