AFL
7 hours ago
AFL reveals cause of clock malfunction in Cats-Pies clash
By Sam Edmund
The AFL has stood down the timekeepers responsible for its latest clock error after nearly two minutes were added to the Geelong-Collingwood game.
The timekeepers in charge of the Saturday night game won’t be part of this week’s Round 10 rotation, with the league admitting “human error” was responsible for multiple mistakes.
The Cats had surged to a 34-point lead with 3min36sec remaining in the third quarter when the clock froze.
It was stuck for about a minute of playing time before more confusion ensued.
After the clock resumed its countdown and had got to 2min56sec remaining, it suddenly added another minute and showed 3min56sec to go in the third quarter.
So, with the time lost and another minute mistakenly added, the third quarter ran for an extra 1min49sec long than it should have.
While the only scores in that time were two behinds to Jack Crisp and Ned Long – and the final score showed a comfortable 54-point win to Geelong – it is the latest concerning timekeeper system error for the league only nine rounds in.
The AFL admitted to a blunder in St Kilda’s nail-biting four-point win over GWS in Round 2, conceding 29 seconds should have been re-added to the clock.
In that game, half a minute vanished after Saint Max Hall kicked a goal in the second quarter at Engie Stadium.
As reported by SEN in the wake of that mistake, a league memo pointed to problems with a software update.
But the AFL confirmed this mistake was “human error”.
“With 3.36 remaining the third quarter, at a boundary throw-in, the time clock was stopped by the timekeepers and did not restart for a short period of time," a league statement read.
“Once timekeepers were aware, a standard manual adjustment occurred, however time was added to the time clock when it should have been subtracted.
“This was a human error by the timekeepers, subsequently leading to the third quarter running 1.49min longer than it should have.
“The issue has been addressed internally, with both clubs informed of the error."
