Welcome to our new series of articles outlining some of the finer points of the rules in the MFL!

These articles are to help our players understand some of the more important or more obscure rules that they may not know, without having to search through our rulebook, which for those who don’t know, is linked on our website under the ‘League Info’ header menu.

This first write up is about the timing of games in the MFL as it is often a topic that players seem to be uncertain of.

The Game Clock

MFL games are played in two halves of 22 minutes of partial stop time each.

That seems pretty straight forward, but a lot of people aren’t sure of what is meant by ‘partial stop time’.  Well, the game clock starts and stops as follows.

- The game clock is stopped at the start of the game until the first snap of the ball, unless the referee has deemed that the scheduled game start time has passed and will indicate to the time keeper to start the game clock.

- The game clock is stopped on all scoring plays and remains stopped through the convert (if applicable) and only starts again on the first snap of the ball after the change of possession.

- The game clock stops on all change of possessions until the first snap after the turnover.  So, if you get that late interception for that one last chance to drive down and win the game, you don’t need to call a timeout!

- The game clock is stopped on all ACCEPTED penalties, though on offensive penalties the defense has the option to decline the clock stoppage.  This must be declared by the defense and the default option is to stop the clock!

- The game clock stops on all timeouts called and remains stopped until the next time the ball is in play.  Timeouts last 15 seconds, and the referee will blow the play in once they have deemed both teams are ready.

- The game clock always starts running on a snap of the ball, except for during convert attempts.
Okay, so that covers all the starting and stopping of the game clock. Simple enough, right?

The Play Clock

There are of course two clocks in football, so now we’ll cover the play clock.

The play clock determines how much time an offensive team has to put the ball into play before being called for delay of game.  Here’s everything you need to know about the play clock:

- The play clock is generally started at 45 seconds.

- The play clock begins counting down for a play as soon as the previous play is over.  This is why teams often find themselves running low on time after longer plays since they are losing time while they get to the distant huddle.  

 Teams face this issue at all levels of football, but it’s part of the game!  In fact, this timing is exactly what is done in the NFL.

- The play clock starts at 25 seconds on all plays where it is not started until the ready for play whistle is blown.  This includes:

     - On a convert attempt

     - The first play after a convert attempt is completed

     - The first play after a turnover

The only exception to this is at the start of a half where the play clock begins at 45 seconds when the ready for play whistle is blown.

The clock is shorter on these plays because it only starts once the bags have been placed and the referee has blown the play in.  The length of time it takes the referees to place the bags and for teams to get ready on these plays is often much longer than a normal play, so 45 seconds might be too short, but it would be too long if we gave 45 seconds once the play was in fact ready.

The End of a Half

The last timing rule that seems to confuse some players is how the “Last Play” system works.

In the MFL once the game clock reaches zero time remaining, the next play blown in by the referee will be announced as the last play.  “Last Play” will always be announced before the play is blown in, so both teams should always be aware that it is the last play of the half.

Here’s a couple of examples:

- The game clock is at 5 seconds and counting down, at 3 seconds left the referee blows the play in.  During the play the clock reaches 0 seconds.  Before the next play is blown in, the referee will announce that the play is the last play.

- The game clock is at 10 seconds and counting.  The referees are in the process of placing the bags and leaving the field.  They do so with 1 second on the clock and before the referee can signal ready for play the time expires, so before whistling the play in the referee announces that it is the last play.

I wanted to add one last point about the play clock.  Teams often ask for “practice snaps” when a new center is brought in and this is generally granted by the referee; however, the play clock continues to run during this time, so the offense should do these practice snaps quickly!

I hope that makes everything about timing in the MFL completely clear to all our players!