Longest quarter ever?

[worbod]

Surely, the 4th qtr in the West Coast v Melbourne game will never be beaten? Because of the lightning, that qtr went for 59:28! I kinda wish it went for those 32 extra seconds!

I have trouble believing that this quarter could be part of the AFL official records, if indeed they keep records on longest quarters. Why did the clock keep running during the time the players were not on the field? If this is permissible then surely the longest quarter of all time must be the third quarter of the round 10, 1996 game between St. Kilda and Essendon. The game was halted when the lights went out at Waverley and the game was concluded two days later.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Shoe in to break this record today?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Shoe in to break this record today?

Could be a 70 minute last quarter. Reckon its been 30 minutes since he kicked it, 5 minutes left is15 minutes of game time probably took 22 minutes.

 

[Connor7395]

Last nights final quarter clocked in at 61:35. This has beaten last year's lightning quarter by two full minutes.

 

[RUbiksmath]

Last nights final quarter clocked in at 61:35. This has beaten last year's lightning quarter by two full minutes.

The SCG scoreboard broke when the clock reached 1 hour, it simply read 00:00 and "full time". Pretty special, albeit that clock I think was underestimating the true time by around 1 minute, as it only reached 1 hour with around 10 seconds left.

 

[Dirty Bird]

The SCG scoreboard broke when the clock reached 1 hour, it simply read 00:00 and "full time". Pretty special, albeit that clock I think was underestimating the true time by around 1 minute, as it only reached 1 hour with around 10 seconds left.

Similar to that Isner-Mahut match at Wimbledon that got to 70-68 in the 5th set.

It broke in the 40s, then they updated some of the electronics after close of play on the 2nd day of the matches play to let it work on the 3rd day of play.

Apparently if it got to 76 or something it was gonna crash again though.

 

[Dirty Bird]

If tonights game resumes, where will it rank.

 

[Connor7395]

If tonights game resumes, where will it rank.

A new record by at least 6 minutes.

That means the longest quarter record has been broken three times in two years.

• West Coast vs. Melbourne, 2021 (4th quarter) - 59m 28s - Play suspended due to lightning
• Sydney vs. Geelong, 2022 (4th quarter) - 61m 35s - Play suspended due to Lance Franklin's 1000th goal
• Brisbane vs. Melbourne, 2023 (4th quarter) - Pending, about ~67m - Play suspended due to power failure

 

[Connor7395]

Final quarter clocks in at 69m 45s. Wouldn't have been as high as it is without that intense fightback.
A new record by more than eight minutes.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Final quarter clocks in at 69m 45s. Wouldn't have been as high as it is without that intense fightback.
A new record by more than eight minutes.

It's not a new record, it's behind the third quarter of the 1996 round 10 clash of St Kilda v Essendon by about 3 days.

 

[jb40]

some of the quaters where Paul Salmon kicked bags of goals would have to be up there for longest quaters ever. Salmon played in the days before the goal kicker was on a 30 second timer, he had the longest run up for goal and would always have to adjust the boots and socks before his kick

 

[worbod]

A new record by at least 6 minutes.

That means the longest quarter record has been broken three times in two years.

• West Coast vs. Melbourne, 2021 (4th quarter) - 59m 28s - Play suspended due to lightning
• Sydney vs. Geelong, 2022 (4th quarter) - 61m 35s - Play suspended due to Lance Franklin's 1000th goal
• Brisbane vs. Melbourne, 2023 (4th quarter) - Pending, about ~67m - Play suspended due to power failure

It's not a new record, it's behind the third quarter of the 1996 round 10 clash of St Kilda v Essendon by about 3 days.

We need to receive an official definition from an AFL official/employee as to what constitutes "a quarter of football". The top three mentioned instances can't seriously be considered as official longest quarters or else the game specified by GoldbergsGold would have to be the record holder. Would the AFL really put the 1996 game at the top of such a list? This would be precisely the same as including all those no-crowd COVID games into a list of smallest crowds of all time. Time to email Michael Lovett. I hope he responds swiftly.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

We need to receive an official definition from an AFL official/employee as to what constitutes "a quarter of football". The top three mentioned instances can't seriously be considered as official longest quarters or else the game specified by GoldbergsGold would have to be the record holder. Would the AFL really put the 1996 game at the top of such a list? This would be precisely the same as including all those no-crowd COVID games into a list of smallest crowds of all time. Time to email Michael Lovett. I hope he responds swiftly.

Right, does it mean continuous play only, or would it include play suspended? The news outlets are including play suspended, but aren't including the 3 day third quarter in 1996.

 

[Connor7395]

It's not a new record, it's behind the third quarter of the 1996 round 10 clash of St Kilda v Essendon by about 3 days.

I thought the AFL officially declared that the moment the lights went out that the third quarter ended there and then, and so the remaining time would be carried over into a two-halved final quarter.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

I thought the AFL officially declared that the moment the lights went out that the third quarter ended there and then, and so the remaining time would be carried over into a two-halved final quarter.

It's listed as a 4 quarter match. Those 2 halves were counted as the end of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter.

 

[maskmcgee]

A new record by at least 6 minutes.

That means the longest quarter record has been broken three times in two years.

• West Coast vs. Melbourne, 2021 (4th quarter) - 59m 28s - Play suspended due to lightning
• Sydney vs. Geelong, 2022 (4th quarter) - 61m 35s - Play suspended due to Lance Franklin's 1000th goal
• Brisbane vs. Melbourne, 2023 (4th quarter) - Pending, about ~67m - Play suspended due to power failure

It's not, the play was suspended as it was in WA. The quarter clock stops when play is suspended. The buddy goal, play was not suspended, they were waiting for the crowd to get off the ground. The quarter continued.

 

[worbod]

I emailed Michael Lovett and even included a link to this thread for him to read. Michael has replied by saying he is going to pass the question on to Col Hutchinson as to what he believes to be the longest quarter in history.

 

[worbod]

It's been two months since I have heard from Col Hutchinson. I think I might need to gently poke the bear for an update. Or should I say, poke the Cat. Col should be in a good mood after his team defeated mine on the weekend.

 

[Canary]

It's been two months since I have heard from Col Hutchinson. I think I might need to gently poke the bear for an update. Or should I say, poke the Cat. Col should be in a good mood after his team defeated mine on the weekend.

Any update two years on from the mighty Col? Sunday's Melbourne vs. Sydney game with a final quarter of 39:58 must be one of the longest without any non-football related suspension of play.

 

[Connor7395]

Any update two years on from the mighty Col? Sunday's Melbourne vs. Sydney game with a final quarter of 39:58 must be one of the longest without any non-football related suspension of play.

Might actually be a record for any quarter without a significant injury delay or suspension of play.
The Round 5 2001 Bulldogs vs Hawks (the one where Todd Curley got four weeks for umpire contact) second quarter went on for 40:29 because Nathan Thompson did his knee. The 41 minute Sydney vs Geelong final quarter in 1993 was because of the Richard Osborne injury where he was legally dead in the ambo (and came back to kick ten weeks later).

I'm pretty sure no injury delays happened in yesterday's last quarter. It was simply because there were so many friggin stoppages, thirteen goals, and a score review that initially went back to the middle.

I think extra time is squeezed out of the game due to umpires now blowing the whistle a lot faster to do ball ups. Less dead ball.

 

[Connor7395]

Average game length by season (games with missing times are not included)
2001 2h 1m 29s
2002 2h 0m 55s
2003 1h 59m 6s
2004 1h 59m 25s
2005 2h 1m 14s
2006 1h 57m 20s
2007 1h 59m 7s
2008 2h 0m 7s
2009 2h 1m 39s
2010 2h 2m 54s
2011 2h 3m 58s
2012 2h 1m 58s
2013 2h 0m 4s
2014 2h 0m 49s
2015 2h 2m 8s
2016 2h 0m 52s
2017 2h 2m 25s
2018 2h 1m 37s
2019 2h 2m 20s
2020 not counting this year
2021 2h 3m 38s
2022 2h 4m 8s
2023 2h 4m 37s
2024 2h 5m 13s

Seems that game length was quite consistent between 2001 and 2019. Aside from two seasons, it's stayed between 1:59 and 2:03 on average. But since the COVID season and the shortened quarters, game time has steadily risen by about 30 seconds a season. And this season alone (up to last week) has the longest games yet, clocking in at an average time of 2h 7m 41s so far. That's an incredible 2.5 minute increase from 2024. The increase in score reviews and quicker calls for stoppages may be doing this.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Any update two years on from the mighty Col? Sunday's Melbourne vs. Sydney game with a final quarter of 39:58 must be one of the longest without any non-football related suspension of play.

It has to be that Round 10, 1996 St Kilda v Essendon match with the third quarter lasting 3 days, because the black out happens with a 43-63 score line, but the third quarter is recorded concluding with 49-63 with the final few minutes of the third quarter recorded as happening 3 days later.

 

[Connor7395]

It has to be that Round 10, 1996 St Kilda v Essendon match with the third quarter lasting 3 days, because the black out happens with a 43-63 score line, but the third quarter is recorded concluding with 49-63 with the final few minutes of the third quarter recorded as happening 3 days later.

I mean that's still technically a non-football related suspension of play.

 

[Gibbsy]

Average game length by season (games with missing times are not included)
2001 2h 1m 29s
2002 2h 0m 55s
2003 1h 59m 6s
2004 1h 59m 25s
2005 2h 1m 14s
2006 1h 57m 20s
2007 1h 59m 7s
2008 2h 0m 7s
2009 2h 1m 39s
2010 2h 2m 54s
2011 2h 3m 58s
2012 2h 1m 58s
2013 2h 0m 4s
2014 2h 0m 49s
2015 2h 2m 8s
2016 2h 0m 52s
2017 2h 2m 25s
2018 2h 1m 37s
2019 2h 2m 20s
2020 not counting this year
2021 2h 3m 38s
2022 2h 4m 8s
2023 2h 4m 37s
2024 2h 5m 13s

Seems that game length was quite consistent between 2001 and 2019. Aside from two seasons, it's stayed between 1:59 and 2:03 on average. But since the COVID season and the shortened quarters, game time has steadily risen by about 30 seconds a season. And this season alone (up to last week) has the longest games yet, clocking in at an average time of 2h 7m 41s so far. That's an incredible 2.5 minute increase from 2024. The increase in score reviews and quicker calls for stoppages may be doing this.

2019 post-goal ad break time was 45 seconds, 2020 went up to 60 seconds, 2021 it lowered to 50 seconds. I believe it's stayed there since. That'd have something to do with it.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

2019 post-goal ad break time was 45 seconds, 2020 went up to 60 seconds, 2021 it lowered to 50 seconds. I believe it's stayed there since. That'd have something to do with it.

45 seconds is still the commercial break time and get back to the game with a short highlight for 7 to show, but there is no flashing light anymore, so someone tells the umpire he can bounce the ball and it takes about 15 seconds for him/her to shake their arse and themselves down and set themselves to walk in and bounce the ball.

Fox Footy timed one post goal time interval last year - from the goal umpire signalling a goal and stopping the count down clock, to when the field umpire setting themselves for the bounce and then walking in and bouncing the ball, and it was timed as 66 seconds until the count down clock restarted.