Football, Interrupted: Wasting Time in Men's and Women's Football

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how much football teams actually play. In the top professional leagues, actual playing time averages to between 61 and 65 minutes per match. In the post, I noted the obvious - namely that the clock can be your friend or your enemy, and that teams of course have the option to use it tactically.

Fast forward to the Women's World Cup being played in Germany, where Brazil's Erika the other day was heavily criticized for (possibly or actually) simulating an injury late in the match to delay the game in her team's favor in the match against the U.S. In part, the criticism seems to have been so heavy because it was a violation of an implicit norm in women's soccer. Turns out, women are significantly less likely to simulate injury than men, as researchers at the Technical University of Munich have found after studying 58 matches in detail. In their sample of matches, they found that play was typically interrupted for the same amount of time in both men's and women's matches. The interesting detail - and notable difference - was that women and men used interruptions differently. To quote from the report:

"The individual interruptions, though, are significantly longer in men’s football. Cheering a goal, for instance, takes almost a full minute with men, while women only cheer half as long. At 45 seconds, substitutions in men’s football take almost 10 seconds longer than in women’s football. Particularly striking are the differences in the duration of injury interruptions – the stronger sex remains on the ground 30 seconds longer. Overall, when women play, interruptions are more frequent, but the game generally resumes much faster than with men."

The data show that men celebrate longer, take longer to sub in and out, and hug the grass more, in particular when their team is ahead, as the report reveals. So if you ask me, the criticism of Erika was a little unfair; after all, she was doing what men do all the time. Talk about theatrics - and tactics, of course!