The future of officiating: analysing the impact of COVID-19 on referees in world football

Webb, Tom

doi:10.1080/14660970.2020.1768634

Cited by 40 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Another aspect is the decision of experts, 33 a subject that remains to be analysed carefully, 34 and if the public were to affect them, 35 it would be necessary to know to what extent refereeing decisions are so decisive in all matches. At the same time, there is also aggressiveness and territoriality, factors that are more of an evolutionary type but that could interact with the social aspect studied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home advantage in European soccer without crowd

Sánchez

Lavín²

2020

Soccer & Society

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The presence of spectators in sport is considered a factor that leads to home advantage (HA). The objective of this research was to analyse the difference of wins, points and goals both at home and away depending on the presence or absence of a crowd and other possible covariates such as budget or average attendance at the stadium in times post COVID. The sample is made up of eight football leagues (soccer) from Germany, Spain, Italy, England and Austria. The results show that there are no significant differences between playing with or without a crowd, except in the German and Spanish top leagues. Even so, there is a tendency in most competitions to play worse at home and better away from home when there are no spectators. These findings do not generally support the theory of social facilitation; so it is concluded that there must be other factors that explain HA.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home advantage in European soccer without crowd

Sánchez

Lavín²

2020

Soccer & Society

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“…Other sport performers, such as coaches and referees were also experiencing meaningful changes to their sport engagement and career trajectories, feeling less publicly essential than they were used to (Taku and Arai, 2020). It was suggested that elite referees faced issues, such as quarantine, time away from families and loved ones, a lack of ongoing contact with colleagues, and fiscal concerns (Webb, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic as a Change-Event in Sport Performers’ Careers: Conceptual and Applied Practice Considerations

2020

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The Coronavirus experience (CE) presents a highly challenging period for sport performers (e.g., athletes, coaches, referees), with potential effects on their lives and career trajectories. In this article, we initially conceptualize the CE using the scheme of change for sport psychology practice (Samuel and Tenenbaum, 2011a). Within this framework, the CE is understood as a longitudinal, multifaceted, unpredicted, non-controlled change-event, with four distinct stages: (a) a pre-Coronavirus stage with unique career contextual conditions (i.e., stable engagement or a transitional period), (b) Coronavirus stage-A accompanied by instability and confusion, emotional response, and cognitive appraisal, (c) Coronavirus stage-B characterized by active coping or regression, and (d) Coronavirus stage-C; instability endures or decreases, depending on career trajectory. The CE presents sport performers with modifications in various dimensions, including physical and physiological, motor skills, psychosocial and self-identity, relationships, performance and achievement, motivation and aspirations, organizational-occupational, and micro-and macro-cultural issues. Sport performers can exhibit several emotional responses (i.e., positive, negative, neutral), and consequential coping endeavors. The development of the change process is underlined by key decisions, manifested in sport performers' attempts to implement responsive change in these dimensions (e.g., adapt their diets, sleep routines, and exercise regimen). The second part of the article discusses applied practice considerations, presenting various techniques and methodologies which practitioners can apply while consulting from a change-based perspective. Ethical issues pertaining to the formation of effective therapeutic relationships during this period are also assessed. The conclusions offer future avenues for researchers and practitioners when attempting to evaluate and cope with this global phenomenon.

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“…From a behavioral science perspective, the consequent relevant question would be about the underlying psychological states of the players and referees. At the moment, the relationship between behavioral and psychological states can only be indirectly inferred from the present data (Webb, 2020). Anecdotal evidence from interviews with players (Guardian Football, 2020;Hamilton, 2021) and referees (UEFA.tv, 2020; ZDFsport, 2020), however, indicates a substantial impact of the missing supporters on the subjective experience of these sports professionals.…”

Section: Implications For Football Clubs and Organizers The Question Now Arises As To Whatmentioning

confidence: 71%

The Cauldron Has Cooled Down: A Systematic Literature Review on Home Advantage in Football during the COVID-19 Pandemic from a Socio- Economic and Psychological Perspective

Leitner¹,

Daumann²,

Follert³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The phenomenon of home advantage (or home bias) is well-analyzed in the scientific literature and is traditionally an interdisciplinary topic. Current theorizing views the fans as a crucial factor influencing the outcome of a football (a.k.a. soccer) game, as the crowd influences the behavior of the players and officials involved in the game through social pressure. So far, the phenomenon has been difficult to study because, although there have always been single matches where the spectators were excluded, this never happened globally to all teams within a league or even across leagues. From an empirical perspective, the situation with COVID-19 governmental measures, especially the ban of fans from stadiums all over the world, can be interpreted as a “natural experiment” and analyzed accordingly. Thus, several studies examined the influence of supporters by comparing matches before the COVID-19 restrictions with so-called ghost games during the pandemic. To synthesize the existing knowledge after over a year of ghost games and to offer the scientific community and other stakeholders an overview regarding the numerous studies, we provide a systematic literature review that summarizes the main findings of empirical studies and discusses the results accordingly. Our findings - based on 16 studies - indicate that ghost games have a considerable impact on the phenomenon of home advantage. No study found an increased home advantage in ghost games. Rather, our results show that 13 (from 16 included) analyzed studies conclude – based on their individually analyzed data – a more or less significant decrease of home advantage in ghost games. We conclude that our findings are highly relevant from a both socio-economic and behavioral perspective and highlight the indirect and direct influence of spectators and fans on football. Our results have – besides for the scientific community – a high importance for sports and team managers, media executives, fan representatives and other responsible.

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The future of officiating: analysing the impact of COVID-19 on referees in world football

Cited by 40 publications

References 24 publications

Home advantage in European soccer without crowd

Home advantage in European soccer without crowd

The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic as a Change-Event in Sport Performers’ Careers: Conceptual and Applied Practice Considerations

The Cauldron Has Cooled Down: A Systematic Literature Review on Home Advantage in Football during the COVID-19 Pandemic from a Socio- Economic and Psychological Perspective

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