Major League Soccer, the highest American league, wants to serve as a testing ground for pure playing time in football. The competition board wants to see whether action can be taken against wasting time in this way.
It is one of the biggest frustrations among football fans: wasting time. For years, noises have been heard from various angles to introduce pure playing time, which has been common in sports such as basketball and handball for years. However, it is not used in football.
Major League Soccer wants to change that. The league is lobbying the IFAB (the International Rules Committee) for a test with effective playing time. The game clock would then stop for all interruptions, such as injuries, substitutions and standard situations.
“It’s something we talk about a lot,” said MLS vice president Paul Grafer. The Guardian. “When are we going to see if we can tackle unsportsmanlike behavior and match manipulation by giving the referee a stopped clock?”
“We are open to pilot projects around the world and cooperation with IFAB,” said Grafer. Pure playing time was already used in the American competition from 1996 to 1999.
Opponents of effective playing time argue that it would lead to unpredictable lengths of matches. That could cause problems for television broadcasters.
There are also many people in the often conservative football world for whom ninety minutes of football is sacred. In pure playing time, for example, two 35-minute games would be played.
New rules
FIFA recently did new rules introduced to prevent time wasting. These measures will come into effect from the World Cup this summer. For example, there will be a five-second rule for throw-ins and goal kicks. Delaying longer during a throw-in will result in the ball going to the opponent.
Players must also leave the field within ten seconds during a substitution. If that doesn’t work, the substitute must stay outside the lines for one minute. An injured player must also remain off the lines for at least one minute after treatment on the field.
