I visited the Allianz Arena on Sunday, saw a 2. Bundesliga game between TSV and Union Berlin. When I get home I will post a separate thread with fotos of the safe standing etc, which was what I was interested in.
But here's the thing. The ref didn't play a nano-second of injury time in either half, despite there being several injuries, plus the usual range of subs. In fact, TSV scored right on the verge of half time, and the Union players just walked off. The ref didn't even restart with a kick off, which I thought was mandatory. When it got towards full time, I paid full attention to the stadium clock, just to make sure I wasn't mistaken. Bang on the 90, he blew up.
Now this also happened in a Czech league game I went to in the autumn, and at the time I didn't think much of it, the Czechs like to take liberties with all kinds of things. But now I am wondering. Well, we know that injury time is played in the UCL/Europa leagues. But I assumed that injury time is something governed by FIFA. Now it seems, some leagues have unilaterally decided to do something else. I am not saying it is a good thing, not to have injury time. It seems to me to be asking for trouble, and I'm really surprised if the Germans have abolished it. They can fake it as well as anyone. On the other hand, it suggests that FIFA isn't so all powerful. So if we wanted to introduce more video technology, or to have the fourth official controlling injury time and having that wired to the stadium clock, so we all see what's going on, seems to me that FIFA can't stop us.
Well, does anyone know more about this injury time thing across Europe?
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Perhaps the weirdest thing I've seen abroad though, is that in Brazil they didn't/don't come out for a warmup before the game. That really confused me.