Stupid cunts (sponsored by Fidel Castro's Squareball fan club)

[MightyWhite]

Ref in Mali v Tunisia game having a normal one

[the flying pig]

ooh, wish i'd been watching.

[Phil LUFC]

Seems 20 minutes later the Mali manager was interrupted mid press conference to be told they had 3 minutes* still to play. Tunisia then didn't show up on the pitch for those 3 minutes and Mali were awarded the win.

I guess it's likely Tunisia were already half way back to their hotel?

*Sounds like it should have been at least double that, probably more.

[Bobbycollins]

It's a Dead Cat conspiracy arranged by the PGMOL to make us thank our lucky stars and appreciate Mike Dean.

[Terre Harte II]

Smells match fixey.

[Blackwhite]

It's a Dead Cat conspiracy arranged by the PGMOL to make us thank our lucky stars and appreciate Mike Dean.

[Phil LUFC]

Smells match fixey.

I thought this but he contrived to give both teams a penalty and send off a Mali player, doesn't seem like the thing to do if you don't want there to be an equaliser.

Maybe Tunisia were supposed to win and, knowing that wasn't going to happen because the useless cunts couldn't even score from the spot, he needed to get to the airport ASAP?

[AndyPaul]

Smells match fixey.

I thought this but he contrived to give both teams a penalty and send off a Mali player, doesn't seem like the thing to do if you don't want there to be an equaliser.

Maybe Tunisia were supposed to win and, knowing that wasn't going to happen because the useless cunts couldn't even score from the spot, he needed to get to the airport ASAP?

It was almost too stupid. Its already got too much publicity for a cheeky match fix surely?

I reckon his Mrs text him at half time to say tea's on the table at 5pm and he better not be fucking late. I'm sure a lot of us can relate.

[Devi]

Smells match fixey.

I thought this but he contrived to give both teams a penalty and send off a Mali player, doesn't seem like the thing to do if you don't want there to be an equaliser.

Maybe Tunisia were supposed to win and, knowing that wasn't going to happen because the useless cunts couldn't even score from the spot, he needed to get to the airport ASAP?

Oh I don’t know. Two penalties, a red card, a certain number of corners, and so on? You could build one hell of a single bet on that mix of outcomes.

[MightyWhite]

I saw a tweet from a journalist at the game saying there is no game clock anywhere within the stadium. Does lead you to ponder whether the stadium clock is used more often that might be expected as almost a control timer.

[Terre Harte II]

It’s weird to me that for all of the technology available to make it precise, the sport, and most of its fans, myself included, prefer that the time be kept by the official on the field.

It’s really not hard to do it if you wanted to. At youth levels here, the official will stop the clock for goals, injuries and cards.

[Phil LUFC]

It’s weird to me that for all of the technology available to make it precise, the sport, and most of its fans, myself included, prefer that the time be kept by the official on the field.

It’s really not hard to do it if you wanted to. At youth levels here, the official will stop the clock for goals, injuries and cards.

It's a massive problem with overall perception I think. Typically the ball is only in play for about 60-65 of the 90 minutes. If the right teams are playing I think it's been as low as 50 minutes.

Take that to youth level and you can easily lose 5 minutes to the ball being retrieved from bushes/a stream/half way across the next pitch. Once it's clear is a time wasting tactic what do you do? The match could easily overrun 20 minutes.

If you're going to be precise then it has to be an out of play clock to avoid time wasting abuse.

[MightyWhite]

I was thinking about this too. The rules on the timing of the game are a bit nuts really when you consider it. Essentially there’s no specific rule about the watch stopping, only that the ref should allow what’s appropriate and take into account subs, time wasting, celebrations, etc. That leads to a whole world of discretion and finger in the air rationale. The fact that the added on time is always a precise number of minutes is indicative of how crude a measurement it is. Does the ref round up or down if they think there’s been 3m 29secs worth of stoppages? There’s a huge difference in those 30 seconds either way.

I also think it’s quite noticeable how refs from other countries view these things. It seems much more common in international football and the Champions League/etc that there’ll be no stoppage time at the end of the first half and maybe only 1 or 2 minutes in the second.

I’m not advocating for a stop clock per se but I feel the law makers could codify this a bit more and ensure greater transparency

[Phil LUFC]

Good point about the champions league. I wonder how much of that is to suit TV schedules? I suppose at that level there must be a lot less time wasting to worry about?

[eric olthwaite]

I’ve long favoured the rugby solution. Time shouldn’t be in the gift of the on-field ref.

[MightyWhite]

I’ve long favoured the rugby solution. Time shouldn’t be in the gift of the on-field ref.

Quite. Especially when you consider the below article I found from The i a couple of years ago

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/var- ... 132838/amp

The arbitrary allotting of injury time creates opportunities for intimidation of officials, and, through bullying and snarling, certain managers’ teams getting more injury time when they need it most. Sir Alex Ferguson later admitted as much.

“Absolutely. That’s why I used to go with my watch,” he told Clare Balding in 2014. “But I never looked at my watch. Honestly. I didn’t know how many minutes but it gets across to the opponents and the referee. It was just a little trick.”

Fergie time, it turns out, is not just cliche, but empirical fact. An analysis conducted by Opta in 2012 found that, when Manchester United were losing, they had an average of four minutes and 37 seconds added time – but only an average of three minutes and 18 seconds when they were winning.



The discrepancy was greater than for any other club surveyed. It was another example of Ferguson’s ingenuity: he intimidated officials because it worked. The real problem was not Ferguson: it was the law that invited such skulduggery.

1m 19secs difference in added on time depending on whether Scum were winning or losing under taggert!

[Blackwhite]

Anyone who read with interest that our world's most scientifically expert tennis player owned 80% of a biotechnology company can relax themselves from worry that he might become insanely rich.

[eric olthwaite]

Wife and I both got letters from HMRC saying we owed £42.47 in tax credit overpayment. From 2009.

(After an hour and 45 minutes on hold)

How can they prove we owe it? 'We should have kept records'

Can we dispute it? 'You can only dispute payments going back six years'

Fucking Kafka-esque.

[Blackwhite]

This needs a low budget Weekend@Bernie's style movie making or nobody is even trying any more.

[AndyPaul]

FIFA

https://news.sky.com/story/fifa-preside ... a-12525891