For years we’ve all been bored to death with all the time wasting in the game.
There did seem to be steps forward made with more time being added on at the end of halves and games a few years ago, but that’s ended now with so many fans moaning about it (and maybe the early leavers still leaving on 80minutes so stadiums were empty for over 20 minutes making the product look shit might have had something to do with that!).
There’s a distinct lack of officials enforcing the speeding up of the game. Too few bookings for time wasting, not enough time added on, and teams just seem to be allowed to waste time at will now. We are paying all this money to just watch a load of blokes stood still on some grass for over half an hour of the game.
But this season, especially, it seems to have got even worse with the amount of time it’s taking for teams to take throw-ins, corners and free kicks, and having a lie down for a bit pretending to be injured.
One second short of 2 minutes a game less than last season. Over 3 minutes a game less than two seasons ago.
www.theguardian.com
We used to be well ahead of the rest of the league with BIP stats:
But this season it’s been very noticeable that teams are taking an age to do anything against us, and yet our games are still third highest in the league for BIP:
I’ve been making a point of looking at the clock when the ball goes out for an throw-ins or corners this season (either at the Etihad or non-City games on tele) and throws can take as long as 45 seconds if they’re near the opposition box and some corners take over a minute. It’s mind-numblingly boring. Some of those teams down the bottom of the list; their games must be proper shit to watch.
Something needs to be done about it!
Other codes of football actively look at ways to speed the game up:
In rugby league there’s a countdown clock at drop-outs and scrums, if time runs out the opposition get the ball. And the ref will call ‘Six-Again’ and restart the tackle count for the set if a defence slows down the ruck too much.
In rugby union the ref will call ‘use it’ at a ruck when the ball is in a position to be played.
Since the countdown clocks and ‘Six-again’ calls came into rugby league, the ball-in-play is at an average of 67% or 63 minutes in an 80 minute match. Some individual matches get well over 70% BIP. It feels like perpetual motion compared to football.
Rugby union BIP has gone up 33% since turning professional in 1995 (although it’s still less than football).
Although you can dismiss gridiron because the ball isn’t even in-play for 6% of the time on the game clock in the NFL (5.79%).
Football targeted the one area that wasn’t even a problem with the 8-second rule for keepers with the ball in their hands. That’s never been an issue with regards to time wasting, that rule coming in was pointless (it has already been 6-seconds in the past!).
It’s the dead-ball situations that need speeding up in football: goal kicks, free kicks, throw-ins and corners, and refs need to start ignoring players having a lie down pretending to be injured.
There did seem to be steps forward made with more time being added on at the end of halves and games a few years ago, but that’s ended now with so many fans moaning about it (and maybe the early leavers still leaving on 80minutes so stadiums were empty for over 20 minutes making the product look shit might have had something to do with that!).
There’s a distinct lack of officials enforcing the speeding up of the game. Too few bookings for time wasting, not enough time added on, and teams just seem to be allowed to waste time at will now. We are paying all this money to just watch a load of blokes stood still on some grass for over half an hour of the game.
But this season, especially, it seems to have got even worse with the amount of time it’s taking for teams to take throw-ins, corners and free kicks, and having a lie down for a bit pretending to be injured.
One second short of 2 minutes a game less than last season. Over 3 minutes a game less than two seasons ago.
Long games, less action: how much is the ball in play in the Premier League?
The average Premier League game lasts 100 minutes and 36 seconds, but the ball is only in play for 54.7% of that
www.theguardian.com
We used to be well ahead of the rest of the league with BIP stats:
But this season it’s been very noticeable that teams are taking an age to do anything against us, and yet our games are still third highest in the league for BIP:
I’ve been making a point of looking at the clock when the ball goes out for an throw-ins or corners this season (either at the Etihad or non-City games on tele) and throws can take as long as 45 seconds if they’re near the opposition box and some corners take over a minute. It’s mind-numblingly boring. Some of those teams down the bottom of the list; their games must be proper shit to watch.
Something needs to be done about it!
Other codes of football actively look at ways to speed the game up:
In rugby league there’s a countdown clock at drop-outs and scrums, if time runs out the opposition get the ball. And the ref will call ‘Six-Again’ and restart the tackle count for the set if a defence slows down the ruck too much.
In rugby union the ref will call ‘use it’ at a ruck when the ball is in a position to be played.
Since the countdown clocks and ‘Six-again’ calls came into rugby league, the ball-in-play is at an average of 67% or 63 minutes in an 80 minute match. Some individual matches get well over 70% BIP. It feels like perpetual motion compared to football.
Rugby union BIP has gone up 33% since turning professional in 1995 (although it’s still less than football).
Although you can dismiss gridiron because the ball isn’t even in-play for 6% of the time on the game clock in the NFL (5.79%).
Football targeted the one area that wasn’t even a problem with the 8-second rule for keepers with the ball in their hands. That’s never been an issue with regards to time wasting, that rule coming in was pointless (it has already been 6-seconds in the past!).
It’s the dead-ball situations that need speeding up in football: goal kicks, free kicks, throw-ins and corners, and refs need to start ignoring players having a lie down pretending to be injured.
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