Does the clock in the corner of the TV screen match the official game clock?

jack presley

The reason I ask is in today's game, the clock in the corner of the RTE screen was stopped at 52:39 when the ref went to the TMO to get a decision on the try. Once the try was given, my understanding is that the clock should start again. However today it didn't. It stayed on 52:39 while Sexton kicked the conversion, re-started the game and it wasn't until a few passages when England kicked the ball out of touch that the clock started again. I just timed it there and the clock was stopped for 2:07 between the try been given and it starting again.

I thought it might have been just RTE's clock and the official clock at the stadium was ticking over correctly but the referee blew up for full time when it was on 80:00 on the RTE clock. I haven't watched the whole game again so maybe RTE re-calibrated the clock at some stage during later in the game and jumped it forward the 2 minutes to get back to the where it should have been to match the game clock.

I know it wasn't a factor in the game but had England kept it tight and got the winning score in the 'last' minute (if going by the clock in the corner of the screen) there would have been an outrage.

ThisRegard

BBC had the same time on their clock.

jack presley

ThisRegard wrote: »

BBC had the same time on their clock.

Were they using the RTE graphics though?

timaru89

It wasn't the only time that happened. There was a scrum near the end outside Ireland's 22 when it was stopped for about another minute and only restarted after scrum was complete.

Wang King

No, even yesterday the ref made a point of telling players that the stadium clock (same as TV) was slow by almost a minute

ThisRegard

jack presley wrote: »

Were they using the RTE graphics though?

No, it was BBC branded.

Swiwi.

The official game clock is the referees watch as far as I'm aware. And no it isn't blue-tooth linked to the stadium clock...

icdg

ThisRegard wrote: »

No, it was BBC branded.

Since the start of this Six Nations, the BBC have been using the standard Six Nations graphics - they just add a BBC logo to the scorebar. That's unless it was different today.

ThisRegard

Maybe that was the case, I don't know, don't pay that much attention to it. As said above, the refs watch is the one that matters.

dring

but if the TV clock was wrong then the game would have finished with 78 mins on it, they did have a lineout on 79 mins, does the ref have to say "time on, time off" continuously during the game and what happens if he forgets?

The Lost Sheep

dring wrote: »

but if the TV clock was wrong then the game would have finished with 78 mins on it, they did have a lineout on 79 mins, does the ref have to say "time on, time off" continuously during the game and what happens if he forgets?

A referee says "time on/time off" in games to inform the time keeper/other officials that he is stopping the match clock. If referee doesn't say "time on/off" then the time keeper of the game wont stop the clock and game will be shorter

dring

well spotted op this is now a story
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/six-nations-timekeeping-controversy-in-ireland-s-match-with-england-1.2123522

jack presley

dring wrote: »

well spotted op this is now a story
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/six-nations-timekeeping-controversy-in-ireland-s-match-with-england-1.2123522

The Six Nations source says that the timing "got out of synch but it may have been corrected".

Surely it's as simple as watching the game again with an eye on the clock and seeing when it stops/starts. It's not like the FBI are needed here.

cython

I'm not sure what they're like now, but TG4 went through a phase of being absolutely terrible for their clock going out of sync from the actual match clock on Pro 12 games. Of course I think at least in those instances the stadium clock was kept correct, which made it so easy to spot as when it appeared on screen the difference was glaring!