Okay, so the other day, I was thinking about how long a football game actually is. I mean, we always hear it’s 90 minutes, but is it really?
I started digging around, just poking through some stuff online. Turns out, yeah, officially, it’s 90 minutes. They split it into two halves, 45 minutes each, like everyone says.
But then, I got to thinking about all the breaks in the game, right? So I searched more, checked out some rules from this group, IFAB, I think it was. They’re like the big rule-makers for football.
- First, I looked up the basic stuff. Two 45-minute halves, that’s the standard.
- Then, I found out about this 15-minute halftime break. Totally forgot about that!
- Next, I started reading about why games go longer. Fouls, substitutions, injuries – all that jazz.
So, I watched a few games, not all the way through, just to get a feel for it. I noticed that these plays, they’re pretty short. I found out that a play can last anywhere between four and 12 seconds. Some websites told me that, I don’t recall which one, but yeah, the plays are short!
And then there’s the stopping and starting. The clock stops a lot more than I realized. After someone scores, or if the ball goes out, or if there’s a penalty. It adds up!
My Conclusion:
After all this poking around, I realized that while a football game is officially 90 minutes, it usually ends up being way longer, like, maybe even close to two hours if you count everything. It’s all those little breaks and pauses that stretch it out. Who knew, right?
It’s kind of interesting when you start paying attention to this stuff. You watch a game, and you start noticing all these little details you never thought about before. Anyway, that’s my little deep dive into football game times. Hope you found it as interesting as I did!
