Ok, I guess somewhere I picked up the idea that it had to be "whole minutes" Another tool for my box. Thanks!
Nothing in the Laws says whole minutes. Standard practice in professional games is to use whole minutes, which is likely where you got the impression.
You expect many referees to understand a math joke? Full disclosure, I did. But I regularly help my daughter with homework.
i got it A math major here. The highest form of math I used for soccer was the Pythagorean theorem a^2 + b^2 = c^2 to figure out distances in relation to the goal, PK mark and PA.
Pythagoras comes in very handy on American football fields! i taught Math at Community College level for 4 years after retiring from my other life!
Too complicated! I eye 10 yards and set the wall (only when needed). Rarely, I have been asked by defenders and attackers to walk off 10 yards. In that case, I take very large or very small steps depending on who doubts my 10 yards. Frequently, then I will move the wall up or back depending on who questioned me. I have never had a second request! Edit: On the original question, I end the game or half when I think time is over. I don't look at my watch in the middle of a promising attack, until there is a pause in the action. Frequently with just a few seconds left, I decide that when the team with the ball loses it, I am blowing for time. If a team is taking their time with a throw-in, corner kick, or goal kick, I may call the game or half, while the ball is not in play. At half-time, I will wait for any ball out of touch to be chased, so I don't have to go get it.
I've found it is faster and more accurate to count players like a phone number (3) 3-4 +keeper and move in clusters across the field.
The fact that you guys are rarely getting that request is astounding to me. I get that request constantly, even when it's right at 10 and they still insist. I oblige by counting very loudly and usually am with a 1/4 step. Depending on the league, I might even turn around and say "ten, ten, perfect steps exactly, mmmkay?" hahahah
I have almost a habit of snidely reminding the players, "It's a gridiron football field, guys. We know where 10 yards are." That's when they sheepishly look down at the other colored lines on the field.
I was fine with math until they introduced imaginary numbers. We can't find the square root of negative numbers so we are going to make something up?
Years ago I had a jerk, in the wall, who insisted that I walk off 10 at one point. So I walked it off, ended right next to him and told him to get off the field, he was wearing a necklace. His team played short because it wasn't a substitution opportunity.
I had a 2 1/2' normal stride. 12 steps often received comments. When on a fiber optic job plotting a route on a RR ROW I marked the rail every 100'. I was the only one not using a surveyor's wheel. 40 steps!
It wasn't a 10 yards situation, but I had a men's league player yapping at me about a decision, when play was stopped for something like retrieving the ball for a goal kick. I gave him a sentence or two and then I looked at his knee, which had a bit of a rug burn. "You have to get that covered." He turned around and asked his teammates if they had the first aid kit, and he left the field. A friend who is a National Assessor happened to be watching the game and gave me big props for how I handled the guy.
I was doing a very competitive U19 boys game where the attackers would "fluff" the ball forward and the defenders would encroach. Got tired of the antics quickly. Next stoppage the attackers were asking for 10 and while they thought my back was turned they "fluffed" forward a couple yards. I set the defenders at 15+yds from the point of infraction and the defenders were complaining about both my version of 10 and the attackers moving forward. To which I replied, "just wait till I deal with them". I want to the ball, picked it up and moved it 5yd further back from the point of infraction giving about 20+yds of separation. Both sides started to laugh a bit and say no no when I asked both sides if anyone else wanted to either encroach or move the ball from the appointed spot. I found out post game I was being assessed and my assessor thought it was a good way to send the message to both sides to cut the crap and focus on play. In HS boys, I've had defenders encroach and usually all it takes is a reminder we're on a pointy ball field. But there's often that one smart aleck guy who says "where's 10" and I'm not beyond a snide remark about his poor math skills or possibly being to dumb to play football.