Bellingham’s non-goal shows that the full-time law of football needs to change

It’s the final seconds of the NBA Finals. On a one-point game, the clock reads 0.0, but play continues for a few more seconds as the Golden State Warriors drive toward the edge.

The fight in Madison Square Garden is long. The final bell rings in the twelfth round, but the referee does not stop the advance of Oleksandr Usyk, now that the Ukrainian boxer is close to a knockout.

There is one round left in the Formula 1 World Championship and in a winner-takes-all situation, the race director refuses to drop the checkered flag as second place overtakes the leader. Actually, after the controversial end to the 2021 season, maybe that’s not the best example.

Nevertheless, the point still stands. The above circumstances are ridiculous: every major sport has a clear ending, whether it’s an expired game clock, the final pitch or a match point. They are objective and not subjective.

Football is an exception and the final moments of Real Madrid’s 2-2 draw against Valencia on Saturday evening showed the limitations.

This is what happened.

Seven minutes of injury time appeared on the fourth official’s board. This was followed by a two-minute delay when a penalty initially awarded to Real was overturned by VAR. The visiting team were on edge during an emotional evening: winger Vinicius Junior had previously scored two goals in a stadium where he was the victim of racist abuse last season.

The delays saw the match continue into the 99th minute and as Luka Modric approached to take a Madrid corner, referee Jesus Gil Manzano indicated that it would be the last play of the match.

Valencia made the clean sheet, but only as far as the edge of the penalty area. As Madrid winger Brahim Diaz prepared to cross the ball back in, Gil Manzano blew his whistle. Game is over.

Less than a second later, Diaz delivered his cross. The referee’s whistle had not yet registered with the players who were waiting for it. Jude Bellingham, who has scored sixteen goals in La Liga this season, headed in. He and Madrid drove away celebrating and thinking this was the winner, another special moment in his spectacular debut season.

Gil Manzano was determined. No goal. Bellingham rushed to the referee alongside captain Dani Carvajal, Vinicius Jr, Joselu, Andriy Lunin and Antonio Rudiger.

“It’s a damn goal,” Bellingham shouted at Gil Manzano before being sent off. After the match, Carlo Ancelotti supported his player.

“Bellingham didn’t insult the referee, he said in English: ‘It’s fa*****g goal’, that’s what we all thought,” the Madrid manager said. “He came close to the referee, but considering what had happened, that was quite normal.”

Madrid’s official website called it an “unprecedented refereeing decision” – but by the letter of the law they had no case. Gil Manzano had played enough stoppage time and indicated his intention to end the match. The final whistle means the match is over. No ifs, buts or maybes.

The anger stemmed from one of football’s unwritten laws: when a team is attacking, the final whistle should not be blown.

“The ball is in the air – what the hell is that?” Bellingham appeared to say during his protests. On rewatch, Gil Manzano’s first whistle came before the ball was delivered – while the second and third occurred with the ball in the air, but before Bellingham headed it. Only the first whistle is needed to stop the match.

Football regulations are vague about when exactly a referee must blow the whistle. According to the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the sport’s legislators, the referee “acts as a timekeeper”, “the additional time may be increased but not reduced by the referee”, and “the compensation for lost time shall be at the highest discretion of the referee”.

IFAB Rule 5.2 adds: “The referee must not change a restart decision if he realizes it is incorrect when the referee has signaled the end of the first or second half.”

This woolliness has led to a subjective system. The game has evolved to such an extent that the expectation is that a half should not end with one team on the attack, but without this being codified, referees may interpret this differently – if they recognize it at all.

What does it mean to be on the attack? Are you about to shoot or cross? What if there is a transition option? What if a player runs freely towards goal from behind? Is 60 seconds of patient build-up from the edge of the penalty area, like Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, one continuous attack?

Every other part of football is tightly regulated. IFAB’s Rules are a 230-page document. Six of those pages, including diagrams, are devoted to what handball is all about. Why does one of its most important elements – when a game is over – barely deserve a mention?

After posting about this on X, formerly Twitter, some responded that the law was clear: the game is over when the whistle blows. Why then the widespread anger? Others responded by saying this was only a problem because it happened to Bellingham and Real Madrid – but this isn’t the first time this has happened. It was only a matter of time before it happened again in a high-stakes, high-profile match.

Returning to the 1978 World Cup, Wales referee Clive Thomas blew full-time with a Brazilian corner during a group match against Sweden – disallowing a Zico header that would have given Brazil a 2-1 victory. The decision only saw them finish second in their group, putting them into a more difficult group in the second round, from which they failed to qualify for the final.

In January 2021, Paul Tierney blew a handful of seconds at half-time before the allotted one-minute injury time expired. Liverpool, playing against Manchester United in a crucial Premier League match, had the ball behind them halfway through, but Sadio Mane looked through on goal. He wouldn’t have been able to put the ball in the net before the clock struck 46 minutes.

A month later, Craig Pawson refereed Manchester United’s trip to West Bromwich Albion. With the score 1-1 and the clock at 47.07 after two minutes of stoppage time, United broke from their own half – with four attackers against just one West Brom defender. Pawson blew with the ball still 70 yards from the opposition goal and was surrounded by irate United players.

Most egregiously, in November 2017, Spanish second division club Ponferradina thought they had a late winner to lift them out of the relegation zone, but referee Alvaro Lopez Parra blew the whistle when Andy Rodriguez tapped the ball over the opposition goalkeeper.

Gim. Segoviana – Ponferradina (0-0): gol anulado a la Ponfe in the ultima jugada. The ball entra mientras suena el pitido final (via @rtvcyl) pic.twitter.com/zgUlU7z9E8

— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) November 2, 2017

The laws allow for unconscious bias, the possibility of home teams or favorites getting more chances, and inconsistency, where referees interpret what constitutes an attack differently.

Visit referee forums and the same problems arise. Dozens of grassroots officials have stories of being surrounded after blowing for a long time. Their decision is final, but subjective. People disagree.

“It is, believe me, less aggro to address a neutral situation,” one referee wrote, explaining a controversial incident. “But it’s not necessarily always the right thing to do.”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

IFAB’s annual conference took place in Scotland last week. There, football lawmakers discussed permanent and temporary replacements for concussion, accidental handballs and infringement during penalty kicks. What else could they have discussed if it had been on the agenda full-time?

Football has a number of challenges. Due to further interruptions after the 90th minute – injuries, substitutions, celebrations, wasted time – referees cannot simply blow up the second the clock signals the end of allotted stoppage time.

If football had a system where the clock stopped when the ball was out of play, matches would swell to unprecedented lengths; the typical ball-playing time in the Premier League is around 55 minutes.

However, under the current system, teams complain if the whistle is blown while they are on attack. In the midst of this ambiguity, no one is happy.

One simple adjustment could help. During stoppage time, the referee was able to switch to a stopped clock system and inflate exactly to the minute. For example, if a team scores after the referee has indicated that there would be four minutes of stoppage time, the referee could stop time before resuming it when the ball is in play, inflating it at exactly 94:00. Professional stadiums all have clocks that show the exact time so players can stay informed.

It gives objectivity to the law, allows stoppages after the 90th minute and, by only being implemented in stoppage time, means matches will last no more than two hours. It’s not a complete novelty in the sport; Indoor football already has a designated timekeeper and a strict full-time whistle.

Bellingham’s ‘goal’ should not have stood, but the vagueness and limitations of the football laws put referees in a difficult position. The game is difficult enough to control. This is not about changing a rule, but about introducing fundamental clarity.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)