The one-minute warning or the one-minute timing rule was a rule that dictated the flow of the game in the final minute of a half in some

indoor American football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

leagues, most prominently the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. During the AFL's final season in 2019, it occurred in the last half-minute of regulation or overtime. At the half-minute mark of regulation or overtime, the referee announced: "One-minute Timing Rule in effect". During the final minute of play, the game clock changes from a continuously running clock (except for scores and time-outs) to a clock that mostly mirrored NCAA rules (stopping on first downs, out of bounds, incompletions, and so on.) For most of the league's history, any play that did not advance the ball across the line of scrimmage also stopped the clock; this prevented teams from

kneeling Kneeling is a basic human position where one or both knees touch the ground. Kneeling is defined as “to position the body so that one or both knees rest on the floor,” according to Merriam-Webster. Kneeling when only composed of one knee, and ...

to run out the clock. (This rule was repealed in 2018.) It also rewards defensive play, as a tackle for loss automatically stops the clock. Any player injured during this time and that team uses a timeout. The original one-minute timing rules remained in effect during the 2019 season of the

China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football league that played its games in the People's Republic of China. It featured players from the now-defunct Arena Football League (AFL) and other ...

. In the former X-League, after the one-minute warning or in overtime, the "X-Bonus" rule came into play. All scoring during the final minute of play was worth double what it is normally worth, and a special black football was used. Fan Controlled Football uses the One-Minute Timing Rule, but further stops the clock after every play in the final 30 seconds of a half. (This is a necessity in FCF, as fans vote on all offensive plays and each teams gets only one time-out each half, meaning without it, the clock would run out without getting a single play executed.)

References

See also