Sport Referee

Communication and player management are central to officiating, but player-official interaction is difficult to train and unresearched. This study interviewed team captains from different sports and used video elicitation and Goffman’s (The presentation of self in everyday life, 1959, Interaction ritual: Essays in face-to-face behaviour, 1967) dramaturgical sociology of social interaction to explore ways players interact and attempt to influence officials. Players were found to behave irrationally sometimes, but mostly they are strategic. Player attitudes to interactions range from fatalistic acceptance to whatever the official decides, through selective complaint, to continuous opportunism. Players attempt to influence officials directly and indirectly through complaining, questioning, flattery or praise. These findings deepen our understanding of the balance – between authority, accountability and respectfulness – that characterises effective communication and interaction with players.

[La gestion et la communication avec les joueurs sont au cœur de l’arbitrage, mais l’interaction officiel/joueur est difficile à entraîner et reste largement inexplorée. Cette étude interroge des capitaines d’équipe à partir d’un éventail de sports. Elle utilise la vidéo et la sociologie dramaturgique de l’interaction sociale de Goffman (The presentation of self in everyday life, 1959, Interaction ritual: Essays in face-to-face behaviour, 1967) pour explorer les différentes façons qu’ont les joueurs d’interagis et d’influer les arbitres. Le comportement des joueurs apparaît parfois irrationnel, mais ils sont surtout stratégiques. L’attitude des joueurs dans ces interactions va de l’acceptation fataliste face aux décisions arbitrales, par la plainte sélective, à un opportunisme permanent. Les joueurs tentent d’influencer les arbitres par l’intermédiaire de la plainte, du questionnement, de la flatterie ou des louanges. Ces résultats approfondissent notre compréhension de l’équilibre – entre autorité, responsabilité et respect – qui caractérise une communication et une interaction efficace avec les joueurs.]

The concept of shared mental models refers to the shared understanding among team members about how they should behave in different situations. This article aimed to develop a new shared mental model measure, specifically designed for the refereeing context. A cross-sectional study was conducted with three samples: national and regional football referees (n = 133), national football referees and assistant referees and national futsal referees (n = 277), and national futsal referees (n = 60). The proposed version of the Referee Shared Mental Models Measure (RSMMM) has 13 items that are reflected on a single factor structure. The RSMMM presented good validity evidence both based on the internal structure and based on relations to other variables (presenting positive associations with team work engagement, team adaptive performance, and team effectiveness). Such promising psychometric properties point to an optimistic outlook regarding its use to measure shared mental models in futsal and football referee teams.

This is the first study in this field investigating the number and extent of
line umpires’ errors during two international, Association of Tennis
Professionals (ATP) “Masters 1000” tournaments. Hawk-Eye technology
was used on these courts, allowing players to challenge line umpires’
calls. The goal of the study was to determine line umpire error rates for
calls reviewed by the Hawk-Eye system. We subsequently determined the
mean size of errors and analyzed these errors on specific court lines. Data
were obtained from official records of the Hawk-Eye system in selected
matches and were provided by ATP. Results showed that line umpires
made errors in 27% of cases where Hawk-Eye review technology was
utilized. This means that an umpire error occurred once per 17.4 games.
The mean size of line umpires’ errors reached 33.2 mm. Most errors
occurred at the baseline. A difference in the number and size of errors
between cross (transverse) and long lines was found, which suggests that
the results for long and cross lines should be treated separately in the
evaluation of line umpires’ performance. The line umpires made fewer
and smaller mistakes towards the end of a tournament in comparison to
its beginning. It is misleading to evaluate line umpires’ performance in %.
We suggest that the coefficient 1 error per N games should be used
instead.

Communication and player management are integral to effective sport officiating but most research has focused on physical performance and decision-making. The few previous studies of officiating communication tend to use ‘transmission’ conceptualisations of communication (e.g., decision communication, impression management). Eleven officiating development managers and coaches from seven peak Australian sport bodies were interviewed to explore conceptualisations of communication and player management, the way officials improve, and the role of the sport bodies in improvement. Four salient themes emerged in conceptualisations of effective officiating communication and player management; personal qualities of the official; one-way communication direction-giving and impression management; situation monitoring (interpreting player and context), and skilled interaction (adapting communication appropriately for context). The findings highlight a mismatch between interpretive and interactive communication skills perceived to be most important and challenging, and the training that is currently provided to officials. There was general commonality in practice and training issues across sport codes. The paper makes theoretical contributions to the study of sport official communication and practical recommendations for improving approaches to training skilled communication and player management.

This article focuses on the response by 2056 football referees across all 51 County Football Associations in England, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey to an online survey conducted from 30 September 2015 to 30 November 2015 regarding their experience of officiating since the implementation of a Respect programme in 2008 by the English Football Association. In assessing the impact of the programme, whilst 54 per cent of referees felt that it has been somewhat successful, there remains a need to implement stronger sanctions and show greater support when dealing with cases of misconduct. Some 60 per cent of referees still experience abuse every couple of games and 19 per cent have experienced some form of physical abuse. With 42 per cent of our sample officiating for less than five years, there is an urgent need for the impact and effectiveness of the programme to be re-evaluated.

The study aimed to identify factors predicting self-efficacy in a sample of 248 Italian handball referees. The main hypothesis was that perception of teamwork efficacy would be a significant predictor of self-efficacy in handball referees. Participants completed an online questionnaire including Referee Self-Efficacy Scale (α = 0.85), Self-Determination Scale (α = 0.78), and an adaptation for Referees of the Sport Commitment Model (α = 0.80). Two hierarchical regression analyses have identified: (1) Enjoyment (β = 0.226), Couple Efficacy (β = 0.233), and Personal Awareness (β = 0.243), as predictors of Self-Efficacy; (2) Span of Co-Refereeing (β = 0.253), Perceived Quality of the Relationship (β = 0.239), and Mutual Agreement (β = 0.274), as predictors of Couple Self-Efficacy. A further SEM analysis confirmed the fit of a structural model of Self-efficacy considering the reciprocal influence of Couple Efficacy, Enjoyment and Awareness (χ 2 : 5.67; RMSEA: 0.000; SRMR: 0.019). The study underlines the importance of teamwork (or co-refereeing) as it relates to enjoyment and awareness in officiating and how it enhances the psychological well-being of handball referees. Future studies should investigate the relationship between factors influencing perceived teamwork efficacy and officiating performance outcome.

The launch of the Respect Program in 2008 was intended to improve the working environment for referees at all levels of the game. However, eight years since the launch, this article has identified significant issues with the organization and management of the campaign and the verbal and physical abuse to which referees are subjected. Findings are concerned with the experiences of 2056 referees across England, the Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey, who responded to an online questionnaire, and given the emergent themes from the data are linked to a figurational framework through location within Norbert Elias’s Civilizing Process. Findings identify a disenfranchised workforce, an uneven distribution of power and wider issues connected with the very structure of the game itself within England. The article concludes with specific recommendations designed to review and reinvigorate the Respect Program and as a consequence the working conditions for referees.

Decision-making is fundamental to officiating in all sports. It is well established in contemporary research that decision-making skills underpin umpire expertise; however, there is little understanding of the cognitive processes that contribute to in-game decision-making. This research implemented an in-depth case study approach, using qualitative methods, to explore the in-game decision-making process of three Australian football umpires. Concurrent and retrospective verbalisation methods were used to obtain verbal reports of the cognitive processes associated with decision-making. Findings identified three salient themes related to both in-game decision-making processes (i.e., decision evaluation, player intention during game-play) and umpire performance (i.e., knowledge of game-play). These themes contributed to the development of decision-making heuristics for Australian football umpires. This study provides initial evidence of the factors that may contribute to and/or affect in-game decision-making processes; however, additional exploration is necessary to further inform training programs aimed to develop domain-specific decision-making skills and subsequent in-game performance.

Purpose: To gain an understanding of referee concussion knowledge, what sporting organizations were doing to prepare their referees to recognize concussions in youth sport, and what role referees could play in overall concussion safety. Materials and Methods: A total of 134 referees participated in the study across four provincial sporting organizations (rugby, soccer, ice hockey, and football). Participants completed a concussion knowledge questionnaire that explored knowledge about concussion education, recognition, management, preparedness, and the role of the referee in overall concussion management. Results: Overall, the sample was found to be moderately knowledgeable about concussions. Referees that received previous formal concussion education had statistically significant higher average scores when compared to those without formalized concussion education (P=0.001). However, only 24% of respondents reported receiving any formal education from their sporting body or referee organization. About 85% felt that referees could play an important role in concussion recognition in youth sport, but only 41% felt they were adequately equipped with the knowledge and skills to recognize these injuries. Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest that national, provincial, and individual sporting organizations should ensure that all stakeholders (including referees) are formally educated about concussions to encourage a safety-first environment for youth athletes. Educational sessions should focus on the general aspects of SRC while also focusing on the specific role of the referee in concussion recognition.