Referee and Match Official Research Network
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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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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Dawson, P., Webb, T. & Downward, P. (accepted for publication, January 2021), European Journal of Sport Science
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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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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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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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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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Webb, T., Dicks, M., Thelwell, R., van der Kamp, J. & Rix-Lievre, G. (February 2020), Sport Management Review, 23 (1), 52-65
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.
Our members
Media ready expert
Dr Thomas Webb
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address thomas.webb@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Sport Health and Exercise Science
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Professor Richard Thelwell
- Job Title Head of School
- Email Address Richard.Thelwell@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Sport Health and Exercise Science
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Mike Rayner
- Job Title Associate Head (Global Engagement and Education Partnerships)
- Email Address hrm51494@myport.ac.uk
- Department School of Sport Health and Exercise Science
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Chris Wagstaff
- Job Title Applied Psychology
- Email Address Chris.Wagstaff@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Sport Health and Exercise Science
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Matt Dicks
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address Matt.Dicks@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Sport Health and Exercise Science
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Professor Barry Smart
- Job Title Professor of Sociology
- Email Address Barry.Smart@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Education and Sociology
- Faculty Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Media ready expert
Dr Adam Cox
- Job Title Principal Lecturer in Economics and Finance
- Email Address Adam.Cox@port.ac.uk
- Department Economics and Finance
- Faculty Faculty of Business and Law
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Paul Gorczynski
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address paul.gorczynski@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Sport Health and Exercise Science
- Faculty Faculty of Science and Health
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'
Current research students
- Alastair Pearson – 'An International Comparative Analysis of Netball Umpire Preparation and Performance'