Time-Wasting in English Premier League

Fairness is a mainstay for our society to function properly. In this regard football is an important domain of human endeavor both as global multi-billion industry and as one the most watched and discussed activities which got a potential to project behavior into other domains of life. Consequently, we decided to focus our attention on one particularly notorious behavior, namely, time-wasting during critical stages of English Premier League football matches. Analysis of data from all the matches played during the 2014-15 season revealed that the leading team may be as much as twice slower in putting the ball back into play in order to maintain its favorable position until the end of the match. Conditions that facilitate such unethical behavior are discussed.