title: What makes a Successful Referee? Determining and Evaluating the Characteristics of Successful Major League Soccer Referees
Creators: name: Westbrooks, J
Publisher: name: Liverpool John Moores University
Year: 2022

description: The value of professional soccer teams has been increasing year over year as the value of the players continues to increase. The increasing value of the teams puts more weight on each match. Soccer referees’ decisions can have a major impact on the outcome of the match, influencing who wins and who loses. There has been little work examining the intricacies of what makes a soccer referee successful. The aims of this project were 1. Conduct study 1 to determine what the definition of a successful referee performance is and what are the characteristics of a successful referee from a broad range of stakeholders in Major League Soccer (MLS). 2. Use the results of study 1 in collaboration with PRO2 coaches to develop a way to assess the referees: a) to differentiate between different levels of match official and b) to determine areas of strength and weakness for each match official. 3. Develop a battery of off-field methods to assess determinants of referee performance, based on items deemed important during the Delphi study which: a) have a strong correlation with the in-game assessment and b) differentiate between distinct levels of official. The first study used the Delphi methodology to ask MLS General Managers, MLS Coaches, MLS League Officers, PRO Referees and Assistant Referees, PRO Staff and PRO Assessors two questions: 1. Their definition of a successful referee performance. 2. Their opinion on the characteristics of a successful referee. The result of the first question was a 7-point definition of a successful referee performance: No one talks about their impact on the game/they do not negatively impact the game, they make very few errors/all major decisions are correct, they control the game, they correctly enforce the laws of the game, they protect the health and safety of the players, they communicate with the players and both teams feel like they received equal treatment. The second question yielded 26 characteristics of a successful referee: physically capable, correct, positioning, correct movement, proper use of body language, knowledge of the laws of the game/ability to apply the laws of the game, football understanding, strong communicator, ability to manage players/coaches, ability to anticipate play, teamwork, makes the correct decisions, experience, composed under pressure, focus, mentally tough, confident, adaptable, courageous, ability to lead, strong personality, approachable, committed, humble, mentally prepared, trustworthy, and student mentality. There were ten characteristics that overlapped with previous work examining successful referees. The second study developed a match assessment tool for referees in collaboration with the coaches for PRO2. The coaches used the match assessment tool on 305 matches for the USL-C. The tool was able to differentiate between tiers of referee within PRO2 on 8 of the 18 items including total score. There was no difference in scores between coaches who did and did not coach the referee they were evaluating. This is the first project to evaluate the effectiveness of an in-game assessment tool and use it to differentiate between levels of official. The third study attempted to differentiate between levels of official for the psychological and professional characteristics in study 1 as well as knowledge of laws of the game, communication and teamwork, and endurance ability. There was no difference between levels of official for the psychological and professional characteristics. There was no difference between level of official for laws of the game. There was a borderline difference between Tier B and Tier D for communication and teamwork. There was a difference between level of official for endurance ability measured by a 4-minute submaximal treadmill run, with MLS officials having a lower heart rate after 4min (p = 0.001), heart rate after 1 minute standing recovery (p = 0.001) and recovery heart rate (p = 0.001).. There were no off-field assessments that were able to reliably differentiate between level of official without another potential explanation. This project was able to develop a definition of a successful referee performance and determine the characteristics of a successful referee. It was able to then use those characteristics to develop an on-field assessment that could differentiate between level of official. The development of an off-field assessment tool could not differentiate between level of official and did not possess a strong correlation with the on-field assessment tool. The results of this project can potentially be used to decide who should be promoted to a higher tier within PRO2, to drive coaching points for individual referees and to evaluate the effectiveness of current education methods.