Referee and Match Official Research Network
Find out how we're exploring the experiences, operational climate and coordination of referees and match officials
The Referee and Match Official Research Network brings together academics, sports official industry professionals and policy makers interested in the research, insight and development of sports officials around the world.
Research and insight is coordinated and conducted from a variety of disciplines and with numerous partners and collaborators in order to develop a greater understanding of the experience, operational climate, and management of sports officials within national and international organisations and across transnational boundaries.
The network brings together scholars, policy makers and interested parties from a variety of organisations in order to develop a greater understanding of the experience, operational climate, and coordination of match officials within national and international organisations and structures.
To date, sports organisations that have collaborated and been involved in the network in a variety of ways are, UEFA, KNVB (Dutch FA), FFF (French FA), Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL), Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Surrey County Football Association, Kent County Football Association, The Referees' Association, Ontario Soccer (Canada), Football Victoria (Australia), The International Netball Federation, the Rugby Football League, Sports Officials UK (SOUK), European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE).
The lead academic of this research group is Dr Tom Webb – please see Tom's profile page for further details.
The network deals with 3 main themes
- Working environment and operation conditions for match officials.
- Development and performance across organisational and societal cultures.
- Leadership, management and coordination of match officials.
Recent publications
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Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
Dawson, P., Webb, T. & Downward, P. (accepted for publication, January 2021), European Journal of Sport Science
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An analysis of soccer referee experiences in France and the Netherlands: abuse, conflict, and level of support
Webb, T., Dicks, M., Thelwell, R., van der Kamp, J. & Rix-Lievre, G. (February 2020), Sport Management Review, 23 (1), 52-65
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Call-to-action: The need for a mental health research agenda for sports match officials
Gorczynski, P. & Webb, T. (July 2020), Managing Sport and Leisure
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Critical Issues in Football: A Sociological Analysis of the Beautiful Game
Grubb, L. J., Webb, T., & Rayner, M. (2023). Experiences of female football referees: using the lack of fit model to explore gender stereotypes in football in England. In W. Roberts, S. Whigham, A. Culvin, & D. Parnell (Eds.), (1st ed.), Routledge
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Developing a mental health research agenda for football referees
Gorczynski, P., & Webb, T. (2021), Soccer & Society, 22(6), 655-662
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Developmental pathways in netball match officiating: examining the potential role of technology
Pearson, A., Webb, T., Milligan, G., Dicks, M., & Barrow, C. (2022), Managing Sport and Leisure
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Examining the career dynamics of elite football referees: A unique identification profile
Loghmani, M., Cuskelly, G. & Webb, T. (accepted for publication, November 2020), Sport Management Review
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Examining the mental health status of referees in the Turkish Professional Football League
Lima, Y., Devran, S., Öz, N. D., Webb, T., & Bayraktar, B. (2022), Science and Medicine in Football
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Experience and construction of mental health among English female football match officials
Webb, T., Gorczynski, P., Oftadeh Moghadam, S. & Grubb, L. (February 2021), The Sport Psychologist
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Match officials and abuse: A systematic review
Mojtahedi, D., Webb, T., Leadley, C., & Jones, M. (2022), European Sport Management Quarterly
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Mental health symptoms of Amateur Association football referees: a cross-sectional study
Lima, Y., Devran, S., Webb, T., & Bayraktar, B. (2022), Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology
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No crowds, no home advantage in football during the COVID-19 season: are crowds able to manipulate all but the best referees’ behaviour?
Nevill, A., Pearson, A. W., & Webb, T. (2022), Journal of Global Sport Management
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Referee abuse, intention to quit and well-being
Downward, P., Webb, T., & Dawson, P. (2023), Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
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Referees, match officials and abuse: Research and implications for policy
Webb, T., Rayner, M., Cleland, J. & O'Gorman, J. (2020), London: Routledge
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Striving for excellence: Talent identification and development in English football refereeing
Webb, T., O'Gorman, J. & Markham, L. (2021), European Sport Management Quarterly
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The evolution of referees in the English Premier League
Webb, T. (2022), Soccer & Society, 23(4-5), 400-410
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The future of officiating: Analysing the impact of COVID-19 on referees in world football
Webb, T. (May 2020), Soccer & Society
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The future of officiating: analysing the impact of COVID-19 on referees in world football
Webb, T. (2022), In K. Bandyopadhyay (Ed.), COVID-19 and the Soccer World (1st ed., pp. 12-18). Routledge
Further information
For more details on the work of the network – including a full list of publications and media coverage for our work, visit our external Research Portal via one of the buttons below.
Collaborators
- Dr Jamie Cleland – University of South Australia
- Dr Jimmy O’Gorman – Edge Hill University
- Manuel Armenteros - University Carlos III of Madrid, Department of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication
- Dr Géraldine Rix-Lievre - Blaise Pascal University
- Dr Mohsen Loghmani - Shafagh Institute of higher Education, Iran
- Dr Denise Hill - Swansea University
- Professor Paul Downward, Loughborough University
- Professor Graham Cuskelly, Griffiths University, Australia
- Professor Alan Nevill, University of Wolverhampton
- Dr Peter Dawson, University of East Anglia
- Dr Ian Cunningham, Ontario Tech University, Canada
- Dr David Hancock, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
- Dr Jacob Tingle, Trinity University, United States of America
Completed research students
- Lee Markham (MRes) – 'Talent Identification and Development of Football Referees'
- Ignacio Aliende Povedano - 'Data science applied to the analysis and improvement of football referee's careers and federation policies'
Current research students
- Robyn Bate - 'Understanding barriers and facilitators to mental health among English football referees'
- Matthew Parry - 'Development of emotion regulation and emotional intelligence in officials'
- Alastair Pearson – 'An International Comparative Analysis of Netball Umpire Preparation and Performance'