The Anonymous Widower

Timekeeping

There have been a lot of complaints recently about referees in football.  There always have been, but some, including Alex Ferguson, have been extremely vocal lately.

We had another incident on Saturday at Ipswich. Town were leading 2-1, when four minutes were indicated by the fourth official. I was nervy about Ipswich conceding another goal to Coventry, so I judged the extra minutes on my watch.

Inevitably Coventry scored.  The BBC shows it on their match report as being scored at five minutes and two seconds after the ninety minutes.

I left moaning about the referee’s timekeeping, as I felt he should have blown earlier.

But then Pablo Counago scored for Ipswich another seventy seconds later, to restore their lead.

The most extraordinary thing was that the BBC timed the match as ending just one second short of nine minutes after the ninety minutes.

I know two goals were scored, someone was booked and there was a substitution, but that surely doesn’t add up to five minutes.  The only thing that you might say, is that the mini-match at the end, didn’t alter who won or the goal difference.

Surely, we should go to an independent timekeeper and a clock that everybody could see start and stop.  Then there would be no arguments.  Except I suspect from one high-profile manager.  To be fair to both managers on Saturday; Roy Keane and Chris Coleman, they took it all with fairly good grace.

But then with Haiti in the news, football is almost irrelevant and a welcome distraction.

January 18, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | Football, Haiti, Ipswich Town