Elite refereeing structures in England: a perfect model or a challenging invention?

The structure employed in England for referees and elite referees is something which has evolved as the game of Association Football has developed over time. This referee promotion, support and management system has changed more rapidly since the inauguration of the Premier League and latterly since the introduction of ‘full-time’ or ‘professional’ referees. The change in the promotion and support for elite referees has necessitated changes to that management structure at the elite level in particular. This article has utilized historical research to analyse the changes to these structures alongside semi-structured interviews as a means of analysing this evolving network for elite referees. Findings indicate that support for the changes which have occurred in elite refereeing regarding the establishment of ‘full-time’ referees are opposed, with alternating views also encompassing the current structure employed for managing elite referees in England and the pathways utilized for referee promotion.     

Referee bias contributes to home advantage in English Premiership football

Officiating bias is thought to contribute to home advantage. Recent research has shown that sports with subjective officiating tend to experience greater home advantage and that referees' decisions can be influenced by crowd noise, but little work has been done to examine whether individual referees vary in their home bias or whether biased decisions contribute to overall home advantage. We develop an ordinal regression model to determine whether various measures of home advantage are affected by the official for the match and by crowd size while controlling for team ability. We examine 5244 English Premier League (EPL) match results involving 50 referees and find that home bias differs between referees. Individual referees give significantly different levels of home advantage, measured as goal differential between the home and away teams, although the significance of this result depends on one referee with a particularly high home advantage (an outlier). Referees vary significantly and robustly in their yellow card and penalty differentials even excluding the outlier. These results confirm that referees are responsible for some of the observed home advantage in the EPL and suggest that home advantage is dependent on the subjective decisions of referees that vary between individuals. We hypothesize that individual referees respond differently to factors such as crowd noise and suggest further research looking at referees' psychological and behavioural responses to biased crowds.     

Referee bias contributes to home advantage in English Premiership football

Abstract

Officiating bias is thought to contribute to home advantage. Recent research has shown that sports with subjective officiating tend to experience greater home advantage and that referees' decisions can be influenced by crowd noise, but little work has been done to examine whether individual referees vary in their home bias or whether biased decisions contribute to overall home advantage. We develop an ordinal regression model to determine whether various measures of home advantage are affected by the official for the match and by crowd size while controlling for team ability. We examine 5244 English Premier League (EPL) match results involving 50 referees and find that home bias differs between referees. Individual referees give significantly different levels of home advantage, measured as goal differential between the home and away teams, although the significance of this result depends on one referee with a particularly high home advantage (an outlier). Referees vary significantly and robustly in their yellow card and penalty differentials even excluding the outlier. These results confirm that referees are responsible for some of the observed home advantage in the EPL and suggest that home advantage is dependent on the subjective decisions of referees that vary between individuals. We hypothesize that individual referees respond differently to factors such as crowd noise and suggest further research looking at referees' psychological and behavioural responses to biased crowds.     

Trends in aggressive play and refereeing among the top five European soccer leagues

Current trends suggest professional soccer is becoming less aggressive, with England often argued to have the most aggressive of the top European leagues. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in fouls and cards as indicators of aggressive play in the first divisions of England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain over the past decade. Number of fouls per match and per yellow card has decreased in all leagues since 2007/08, though attempted tackles per foul has not changed or has increased. A lack of substantial rule changes suggests players have become less aggressive in tackling as opposed to referees becoming more lenient. Total number of fouls and cards per match were consistently lower in the English Premier League, however attempted tackles per foul was higher. The data also demonstrate the notions of home advantage and potentially referee bias, since referees tended to call more fouls and award more cards to away teams. Lastly, number of attempted tackles per foul and yellow cards received exhibited the strongest correlations with final league position across the leagues. In conclusion, our data support that elite European soccer has become less aggressive and the English Premier League is the most aggressive league.     

The Emergence of Training and Assessment for Referees in Association Football: Moving from the Side-lines

The referee is an essential part of the codified form of Association Football that we know today. Nevertheless, this has not always been the case; whilst a referee, in some form, has been a requirement since codification in order for football matches to occur, referees have not always been central in the thought process of rule makers and those developing the game. This essay explores the evolution of the referee within Association Football and, more specifically, the training, support and assessment practices that referees have received since the codification of Association Football in 1863. Therefore, this essay focuses on debates and input from governing bodies, such as the Football Association, FIFA and the Referees Associations specifically related to referees and their training, support and assessment as the association code of football continued to evolve.     

国际级、国家级篮球裁判员后备人才培养模式研究--“基地式”篮球裁判员培养模式构建研究

运用文献资料、专家访谈、数理统计和逻辑分析等研究方法,对当前篮球裁判员培养方式进行分析研究。针对目前篮球裁判员培养中存在的各种问题,从培养基地的设立依据、目标设置、课程设置、教学设计等方面构建了"基地式"篮球裁判员培养模式。研究结果表明："基地式"篮球裁判员培养模式能充分发挥和利用高校体育院校的篮球裁判后备人才、师资力量、体育场馆设施等资源;采用理论与实践教学相结合的有效培养体系,培养过程科学、合理、系统、规范,培养效果显著,是当前中国篮球裁判员培养方式的有益补充和创新,具有实际可操作性和可行性。建议裁判员管理部门对基地进行培养经费投入,在基地积极组织和承办大型篮球赛事,为裁判员实践学习和临场锻炼提供平台,促进篮球裁判员培养工作持续、快速、有效的发展。     

Television match officials,referees, and home advantage: Evidence from the European Rugby Cup

The regulation of on-field competition by officials is an important aspect of the management of sport. Increasingly, sports are providing technological support for officials to aid their decision making. In this paper, the authors analyse the impact of such an innovation by exploring the impact of the introduction and subsequent extended role of the television match official on the award of sanctionable offences of players in matches played in the group stages of the European Rugby Cup (ERC) and European Rugby Champions Cup (ERCC) over 15 seasons from 2000/01 to 2015/16. Rugby Union is an important sport to reflect upon because of the central role that the referee plays in rule interpretation and game management and the level of home advantage tends to be relatively high in the sport. Indeed, 65% of all matches in the sample analysed resulted in home wins. Results suggest that crowd effects and referee experience influence referee decisions, but the effects vary depending on the type of incident being considered. The main finding and contribution of the paper is that the introduction of the television match official has influenced the incidence of sanctions issued to both teams. However, the increase in the number of yellow cards awarded to away teams implies that home bias has increased since the introduction of the television match official. This suggests that referees may have been consciously or unconsciously seeking to avoid contributing to home bias before the introduction of a further official who is remote from the effects of the crowd. Recognising that such an adjustment takes place according to the circumstances is important information for the training of officials; particularly as a television match official may not be present in all games that they will referee.     

Inconsistency of decision-making,the Achilles heel of referees

This study assessed whether decisions made by six qualified referees were consistent when watching the live 2016 televised Champions League Final. Referees were paired off into three separate rooms. Two referees watched the game with no supporters present. Two watched the game surrounded by Real Madrid supporters, and the remaining two watched the game surrounded by Athletic Madrid supporters. Referees were asked to decide whether each decision made by the on-field referee was either correct or incorrect. Results identified two types of refereeing inconsistency. The first type was a systematic tendency of the supporting crowds (both rooms) to influence the adjudicating referees to make fewer incorrect (disagree with the on-field referee) decisions (8 and 5) than referees in the “no supporters” room (19) (χ² = 11.22 [df = 2], P = 0.004). The second type of inconsistency was the home advantage “bias”, where the surrounding crowd influenced the adjudicating referees to favour their team, by disagreeing with the decision made by the on-field referee (χ² = 6.0 [df = 2], P = 0.0498). One explanation for these inconsistencies is that referees adopt a coping strategy of “avoidance”, i.e., when faced with difficult decisions, referees simply avoid making unpopular decisions by waving “play on”.     

我国现代五项裁判员现状调查与发展对策的研究——以2010年全国现代五项锦标赛的裁判工作为例

运用文献资料、问卷调查、专家访谈、数理统计等方法,对2010年全国现代五项锦标赛裁判员现状进行调查与分析,结果如下：目前我国现代五项裁判员队伍年龄结构不合理;性别比例失调。裁判员的业务培训机会少,学历层次不高,建议加大对青年裁判员以及女性裁判员的培养,增加裁判员培训交流的机会,全面提高裁判员的学历水平。     

足球模拟裁判教学程序设计实验性研究

足球裁判能力的培养与提高,对足球运动的发展起到积极推动作用,是足球竞赛工作的重要保证。本文通过模拟教学手段,结合足球选项课裁判教学的特点,运用模拟临场裁判的实际操作,并施加必要的手段,设计出一套模拟裁判教学程序,达到有效提高学生裁判执法,水平,旨在改进和提高足球选项课法规及执法的教学质量。     

我国越野滑雪裁判员队伍发展现状及培养对策研究

随着越野滑雪裁判队伍的逐渐壮大,我国越野滑雪裁判员在成长过程中也有一些急需解决的问题。以我国越野滑雪裁判员为研究对象,运用文献资料法、专家访谈、调查问卷、数理统计法对越野滑雪裁判员人员结构、年龄结构、文化结构等进行调查研究,找出越野滑雪裁判员不足和需要加强的方面,从而使我国越野滑雪裁判员水平得到提高,为今后发展我国越野滑雪提供人才储备,为我国裁判队伍做好培养工作。     

中国足球裁判员发展现状与对策研究

足球裁判员是足球比赛的督促检查执行者,裁判水平的高低对足球竞赛工作的顺利进行具有举足轻重的作用。系统分析当前中国足球裁判队伍存在裁判人口少、执法水平较低、裁判培训机制落后等现状问题,并提出相应的对策和合理化建议,以期为中国足球裁判员的水平提升提供一些理论参考。     

论立足业余足球联赛增强裁判能力的培养

足球裁判员是足球比赛的有机组成部分,没有高水平的裁判员,就没有高水平的足球比赛。我们在业余足球联赛过程中,可以通过对年轻足球裁判员的理论培训并给予较多的上场锻炼机会,以逐步增强裁判员的自信心,不断提高他们的判罚能力,从而培养出一批业务合格、作风出色、能够完成各级联赛任务的年轻足球裁判员。他们的成长提高又对促进业余足球联赛的健康发展有着积极的影响。     

上海市奥运项目裁判员队伍现状和发展对策

采用问卷调查、专家访谈等研究方法,对上海市奥运项目各单项协会裁委会的组织管理、在国家单项协会裁委会任职、裁判员队伍、在全运会上任职以及培训、考核、注册、申报等裁判员队伍现状进行调查分析.发现：部分协会裁委会组织与管理不够完善、在国家单项协会裁委会中担任重要职务的覆盖面不够广、部分裁判员的培训与考核工作不够规范等问题;提出依法行政、健全组织、战略布局、加强培训等对策.     

创建《武术长拳裁判员裁判练习多媒体系统软件》的研究

本研究在深入调研的基础上,根据长拳竞赛规则的主要特点,结合现代电子计算机技术,构建编创长拳裁判员裁判练习多媒体系统软件,该软件将能够有效地辅助裁判员进行裁判练习,提高临场裁判能力,为竞技武术竞赛规范化的进一步发展提供帮助。     

谈黑龙江省高校培养冬季运动项目裁判员的优势

通过对黑龙江省11个冬季运动项目裁判员的现状调查,发现高校拥有较强的培养裁判的优势和条件,依靠高校来培养裁判员不失为一条较好的途径,从裁判员应具备的素质、高等院校培养裁判的优势两个方面进行探讨,为我省、我国培养裁判员的工作提供参考,以期为将来在哈尔滨举办的2009年世界大学生冬季运动会提供更多高层次、高质量、更具影响力的高水平裁判员。     

建立我国高水平网球裁判培养体系的研究

对我国网球裁判的现状进行分析,寻找造成高水平网球裁判培养落后的原因,在此基础之上,提出从整体发展我国网球运动,创建网球裁判员培训基地,建立我国高水平网球裁判的培养体系。     

CUBA裁判员培养模式探讨

通过对2002年CUBA夏令营裁判员培训班情况分析，本文提出了一个CUBA裁判员培养模式，以供参考。     

福建省乒乓球裁判员队伍现状调查与分析

运用文献资料法、问卷调查法、专家访谈评价法和数理统计法等研究方法,从裁判员的年龄结构、学历结构、裁判等级、运动经历、执裁年限、业务培训、临场执裁能力和业务水平整体状况等方面对福建省乒乓球裁判员进行调查与分析。结果表明：福建省乒乓球裁判队伍年龄结构基本合理。裁判员的文化素质和学历结构良好,高级别、高水平的裁判偏少,大部分裁判缺乏培训,实践经历和经验积累不足,临场执裁不够准确,裁判员整体业务水平存在较大不足,亟需完善提高。     

篮球三人裁判制与二人裁判制的比较分析

运用比较分析法和专家访谈法,对篮球裁判三人制和二人制裁判法在裁判员轮换、错漏判和生理负荷方面进行比较分析,旨在为提高篮球裁判员理论基础提供依据。