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October 16

Timekeeper, please set the clock...

In Canadian football games, the referee wears a microphone that is linked to the stadium PA system so he can announce things to everybody. For example, "No yards, Hamilton, 15-yard penalty; first down" or "After review, the ruling on the field stands. Calgary loses a timeout and cannot challenge again". But also, nowadays from time to time I will hear the referee announce, "Timekeeper, please set the game clock to 1 minute 12 seconds". Obviously this happens when the time on the clock is wrong, for example if the officials did not react promptly when a timeout was called.

But what I'm wondering about is, how does the referee know to do this? How does he* know that the clock is wrong, and exactly what it should read? And if there's an official whose job it is to tell him, why doesn't that person speak to the timekeeper directly?

I'm guessing that everything** here is the same in American football, in which case an answer for American football will suffice.

Notes:

*Or she, but so far the referees are still all men.

**Except for the failure of American football rulemakers to invent the "no yards" rule.

--184.144.99.72 (talk) 08:25, 16 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What is the "no yards rule"? I don't see that in your link. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:18, 16 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Read more carefully. --184.144.99.72 (talk) 21:24, 16 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This has discussion of how one timing error was corrected in ~2011 [1]. Whether that's the norm nowadays, I don't know. Nil Einne (talk) 20:17, 16 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"A supervising official in a booth above the field" spotted the error and informed the referee by pager. Okay, maybe that's the answer. Thanks. --184.144.99.72 (talk) 21:24, 16 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

On the field in Canadian football, the responsibility for watching the official clock and correcting any errors with it is assigned to the Field Judge, a member of the on-field officiating team. Of course, any official who notices a timing error may report it to the referee to announce a correction, but the primary responsibility in Canadian football for doing so lies with the field judge. Commonly, these mistakes occur because the clock official either missed the signal to stop the clock, and let it run too long, or forgot to start the clock at the correct time. In American football, the same task is assigned to the Back Judge. While both sports have both named officials, the one of the two responsible for watching the clock is different. (I have been a clock official for many years in high school American football, and am quite familiar with the inner workings of the game. Canadian football, from what I am reading on the subject, is timed very similarly as American football). --Jayron 32 16:23, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, Jay. --184.144.99.72 (talk) 23:19, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]