Helping the man in the middle: assessing and training referee performance

This thesis describes an applied programme of research with the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) national panel of referees. Referee performance can have a critical impact on the outcomes of games and as a consequence the future status of the clubs & players concerned. Surprisingly, given the importance of referees, access to scientific support for these individuals is almost non-existent. Furthermore, there are only a handful of empirical investigations that have explored refereeing performance and none that has attempted to train sports officials. Accordingly, this programme of research set out to understand, operationalise and train the key aspects of referee performance. Using a multi-modal approach the first investigation used referee performance profiling and content analyses of three sources of literature to establish the key areas of referee performance. The Cornerstones Performance Model of Refereeing emerged, overarched by the psychological characteristics of excellence; featuring knowledge and application of the law; contextual judgment; personality and management skills; and fitness and positioning. The model was subsequently adopted by the RFU to structure the applied support programme and guide the development and selection of the English RFU referees. A naturalistic approach was adopted, focussing primarily on the decision-making aspects of the performance model. A video based, law-application assessment tool revealed surprisingly low levels of accuracy amongst referees and their support groups. Accordingly, a training programme was designed to reinforce accurate and coherent interpretations. A group of national panel referees watched videotaped scenarios taken from premier league games, showing 5 sets of 5 tackles, in each case with an expert providing the interpretation of the correct decision. All referee groups improved their performance from pre to posttest, with the lowest ranked referees showing significant improvements. However, as the performance model presents, referee DM is influenced by many factors beyond a simple application of the law. Accordingly, the final investigation explored the factors that change the game context and how they influence rugby-union referees management of the game. Following the nominal group technique, two groups of referees listed contextual factors that they felt might affect their decisions during a game. Individual ratings of this list with both groups revealed the most important factors to be the "temper of the game," "the level of player respect/rapport," "position on pitch," "scoreline," and the "time left in the game." To verify these factors a think-aloud protocol was conducted with three international referees, assessing how they weigh their decisions based on the context and how this affects their management of the game. The results suggest that elite referees use "preventative refereeing" to help maintain the natural flow to a game. Finally, the implications of this research programme are discussed in the light of expediting the development of high performance referees in open team sports

The Art of Reason versus the Exactness of Science in Elite Refereeing: Comments on Plessner and Betsch (2001)

Plessner and Betsch’s (2001) investigation into officiating behavior may be representative of a shift from stress-orientated research (Anshel & Weinberg, 1995; Rainey & Winterich, 1995; Stewart & Ellery, 1996) to consideration of decisionmaking (Craven, 1998; Ford, Gallagher, Lacy, Bridwell & Goodwin, 1999; Oudejans, Verheijen, Bakker, Gerrits, Steinbuckner & Beek, 2000), the primary function of referees in any sport. Commendably, Plessner and Betsch have investigated the most important focus of referee performance, the application of the rules (Anshel, 1995). However, methodological weaknesses, together with a fundamental error in the attribution of causation to the findings, significantly dilute this paper’s contribution to extending knowledge in this important area

Elite Refereeing Performance:Developing a Modelfor Sport Science Support

To identify a framework for referee training and selection, based on the key areas of effective performance, we conducted content analyses on Rugby Football Union referee assessor reports, referee training materials, performance profiles from a group of English premier league referees, and a review of published research on sports officiating. The Cornerstones Performance Model of Refereeing emerged, overarched by the psychological characteristics of excellence (see McCaffrey & Orlick, 1989) and featuring four key areas; (a) knowledge and application of the law; (b) contextual judgment; (c) personality and management skills; and (d) fitness, positioning and mechanics. Focus group interviews confirmed the usefulness of the model as an assessment and training tool, which the RFU now use to develop referees throughout Englan

Physical performance and decision making in association football referees: A naturalistic study.

Although researchers have independently investigated the physical and decision-making (DM) demands experienced by sports officials, the combined impact of locomotion and physiological factors upon DM has received little attention. Using an innovative combination of video and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology this study explored the movement, heart rate (HR) and DM of experienced football referees in their natural performance environment. A panel of independent referees analysed incidents (n = 144) taken from five referees in seven games in the New Zealand Football Championship (2005/06). The match-day referees made accurate decisions on 64% of the incidents, although their accuracy levels were not related to variables such as movement speed, HR, and cumulative distance covered. Interestingly, referees were on average only 51% accurate in the opening fifteen minutes of each half compared to 70% accuracy at all other times. This study demonstrated that it is possible to combine new emerging technologies to conduct a comprehensive study of naturalistic decision-making in sport

A Naturalistic Approach to Training Accurate and Coherent Decision Making in Rugby Union Referees

The purpose of this investigation was to pilot the use of a video-based training program designed to develop referees’ shared mental models. A group of English Rugby Football Union (RFU) national referees, divided into a control group (n = 15) and experimental group (n = 41) made their immediate decisions on pre and posttests of 10 video recordings taken from real game scenarios. Over a six-week period the experimental group studied training tapes consisting of 5 sets of 5 tackles, in each case with an expert providing his interpretation of the correct decision. Each clip was filmed from the referee’s perspective and taken from real game situations in order to maintain high ecological validity in accordance with naturalistic decision-making theory. The lowest ranked referees on the national panel significantly improved their percentage of correct decisions, becoming 17.43% more accurate in their decisions at the posttest. These results suggest that such shared mental model training is an appropriate method for improving referee decision making. \bb\164 words

Sport officials' strategies for managing interactions with players: Face-work on the front-stage

Communication is central to managing perceptions of fairness and performance in sport officiating. Most of the few studies that focus on sport official communication have been limited to ‘one-way’ impressions and decision communication and tend to neglect more dynamic, dialogic interactions with players. This study explored sport officials' identity concerns and motivations and ways officials adapt and accommodate ‘face’ in interactions with players.DesignQualitative methodology.MethodVideo elicitation interviews using an allo-confrontation approach were conducted with 8 male and 6 female sport officials from 7 different team sports representing novice to professional levels. Goffman's (1959; 1967) dramaturgical sociology of interaction was used to frame identity projections and context in officials' communication management strategies.FindingsAnalysis of interview transcripts revealed three distinct ways officials' face concerns emerge and are managed in interactions with players including (1) anticipating players' reactions and modifying presentation of self, (2) asserting and preserving the officials' own face, and (3) giving and restoring players' face. When incompatible interactional exchanges occur in sport matches, officials use different defensive and corrective face-work strategies to assert, re-establish, or appropriate face statuses for themselves and players.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the importance of dynamics and context in sport official communication. They also emphasise the need to maintain relationships, preserve and protect identities, whilst being strategic in interactions with players. We conclude that new conceptualisations are needed in sport official communication to build on current ‘one-way’ concepts that dominate officiating research and training

Using Mobile 360° Video as a Tool for Enhancing Sport Referee Performance: A Case Study

Many new video-based technologies (e.g., eye trackers, point-of-view camera) have been integrated into sport referee performance monitoring and training. Mobile 360° video (an omnidirectional video-capture tool affixed to the referee during their performance using a chest harness) provides moving images recorded from a first-person perspective. This case study explored rugby union referees’ and referee coaches’ engagement with mobile 360° video during a viewing of another referee’s performance. Using an other-confrontation interview approach, referees’ and referee coaches’ cognitive activity (interests, concerns, noticing, and knowledge) while viewing mobile 360° video was elicited and studied. Participants experienced heightened immersion in the situation, as well as enhanced discovery and noticing behavior, and they constructed different types of embodied and corporeal knowledge. Using a rugby union setting, this occurred through enhanced perceptual involvement provided by mobile 360° video for reflection on referee positioning and movement, contextual inference about decisions, and sensitivity to player cues and interactions. This study provides preliminary evidence for the utility and acceptability of mobile 360° video as a pedagogical innovation in referee training to enhance referees’ decision making, game management, and reflexivity. Limitations, challenges, and applications of immersive mobile 360° video as a pedagogical tool in rugby union refereeing and other sports are discussed

First-person video recordings with eye tracking glasses and cognitive task analysis as a framework for referee decision training

RationaleIn comparison to players little is known about how sports officials integrate perception and cognition to manage in-game decisions.DesignUsing a naturalistic approach this paper uses first-person eye-tracked video footage to document the attentional demands and situation awareness (SA) of expert touch (rugby/football) referees in their real-world environment to inform decision training for amateur officials. Drawing directly from match performances, an applied cognitive task analysis (ACTA) technique investigated how three international referees manage complex attentional demands, to see what lessons could be learned for less-experienced referees.FindingsReferees emphasised the importance of role clarity and game understanding as the foundation for effective match officiating. They used advanced cues such as player body language and movement patterns (SA1) to interpret game status (SA2) and predict likely actions and movement patterns (SA3).Ordering abstraction, preventive communication and early positioning were used to lessen cognitive load and encourage game flow.Practical ImplicationsThe merits of using first-person, eye-tracked, audio-visual footage with ACTA for training less experienced sports officials through expert verbal elicitation or self-reflection are discussed.Research ContributionThe paper proposes a decision tree for touch refereeing which emphasises a hierarchical ordering of cognitive decision points that provides the basis for training amateur referees

Skilled interaction: Concepts of communication and player management in the development of sports officials

Communication and player management are integral to effective sport of ciating, but most research has focused on physical performance and decision making. The few previous studies of of ciating communication tended to use “transmission” conceptualizations of communication (e.g., decision communication, impression management). Eleven of ciating-development managers and coaches from 7 peak Australian sport bodies were interviewed to explore conceptualizations of communication and player management, the way of cials improve, and the role of the sport bodies in improvement. Four salient themes emerged in conceptual- izations of effective of ciating communication and player management: personal qualities of the of cial, 1-way-communication direction giving and impression management, situation monitoring (interpreting player and context), and skilled interaction (adapting communication appropriately for context). The ndings highlight a mismatch between (a) interpretive and interactive communication skills perceived to be most important and challenging and (b) the training that is currently provided to of cials. There was general commonality in practice and training issues across sport codes. The article makes theoretical contributions to the study of sport-of cial communication and practical recommendations for improving approaches to training skilled communication and player management

Exploring player communication in interactions with sport officials

Abstract. oðciating, but player-oðcial in- teraction is diðcult to train and unresearched. This study interviewed team captains from di erent sports and used video elicitation and Go man’s (The presentation of self in everyday life, 1959, Interaction ritual: Essays in face-to-face behaviour, 1967) dramaturgical sociology of social inter- action to explore ways players interact and attempt to influence oðcials. Players were found to behave irrationally sometimes, but mostly they are strategic. Player attitudes to interactions range from fatalistic acceptance to whatever the oðcial decides, through selective complaint, to continu- ous opportunism. Players attempt to influence oðcials directly and indirectly through complaining, questioning, flattery or praise. These findings deepen our understanding of the balance – between authority, accountability and respectfulness – that characterises e ective communication and inter- action with players