Every question in this scenario

The Added time investigation scenario asks 3 questions and can reach 7 decisions. A walk answers only the ones its own answers lead to. This is the whole set, for reference and for revision.

1. 1What is being questioned?

   Everything in Law 7 is one of those two things, or one of two cases where the clock does something unusual.

   Answers: The length of the match or the interval · How much time is added · The half ended with a penalty kick still to take · The match was abandoned

2. 2Which one?

   Both have a fixed figure in the Laws and both can be varied, but not by the same people or on the same terms.

   Answers: The length of the halves · The half-time interval

3. 3What about the added time?

   In that half is doing the work: time lost in the first half is added to the first half and cannot be carried anywhere.

   Answers: What has to be allowed for · How the amount is shown, and whether it can change · The first half was timed wrong

Every decision it can reach

Each one is where a walk ends, with the reasoning it prints. The clause behind a decision is cited on the decision itself, which you reach by walking to it.

1. Two equal halves of 45 minutes, reducible only by agreement before kick-off

   A match lasts for two equal halves of 45 minutes, which may only be reduced if agreed between the referee and the two teams before the start of the match and in accordance with competition rules. Three conditions, all of them together: agreement, everyone, and before kick-off. The halves must also stay equal, so a match cannot be shortened part-way through.

2. Not exceeding 15 minutes, and only the referee may alter it

   Players are entitled to an interval at half-time, not exceeding 15 minutes, and a short drinks break not exceeding one minute is permitted at the interval of half-time in extra time. Competition rules must state the duration and it may be altered only with the referee's permission. Entitled is the operative word: the interval belongs to the players rather than to the organisers.

3. Eight categories, and the last one is open

   Allowance is made in each half for all playing time lost through substitutions, assessment and removal of injured players, wasting time, disciplinary sanctions, medical stoppages permitted by competition rules such as drinks breaks not exceeding one minute and cooling breaks of ninety seconds to three minutes, delays relating to VAR checks and reviews, goal celebrations, and any other cause including any significant delay to a restart. Goal celebrations and VAR are on the list explicitly, which is the part people argue about, and the final category is written open so nothing that costs playing time falls outside it. What stops that open category swallowing the whole match is a line in the guidelines: many stoppages in play are entirely natural, throw-ins and goal kicks among them, and an allowance is made only when delays are excessive. So the added time is not the total of every second the ball was not moving, which is the sum most people in the ground are doing.

4. A minimum, shown at the end of the final minute, which may go up and never down

   The fourth official indicates the minimum additional time decided by the referee at the end of the final minute of each half. The additional time may be increased by the referee but not reduced. So the board is a floor rather than a countdown, and time lost after it goes up is added on top: a substitution or an injury in the announced minutes can lengthen them.

5. The second half is not shortened or lengthened to make up for it

   The referee must not compensate for a timekeeping error during the first half by changing the length of the second half. A half played short or long stands as played, which follows from the halves being equal and from the allowance being made in each half for time lost in that half.

6. The half is extended until the kick is completed

   If a penalty kick has to be taken or retaken, the half is extended until the penalty kick is completed. Extended rather than paused, and until completed rather than until it is taken, so a retake carries the extension with it. Law 14 decides when the kick is complete, which is why a rebound put in by the kicker does not count in an extended half.

7. Replayed, unless the competition says otherwise

   An abandoned match is replayed unless the competition rules or organisers determine otherwise. The Laws give the default and hand the decision away in the same sentence: whether it is replayed is the competition's call and not the referee's.