How Referees Add Time In Games

A soccer game consists of two equal halves. A professional match has 45-minute halves while other games could have fewer minutes in the half, depending on the competition or age group. The halves are running time. The time begins when the ball is legally put in play on the kick-off by being kicked forward, not when the referee’s whistle sounds.

The rulebook states that time can be added for substitution, injury, time-wasting or any other cause. So if a plague of locusts or some other surreal incident interrupts play, add time.

This is what works for me: I wear two watches, with one functioning as a stopwatch on one wrist and one with time of day featured on the other. Just before the game begins, I look at the time of day on the relevant watch, then write down on my score sheet what the time of day should be when the half is over.

So if we are playing 45-minute halv…