Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 sport management - sport science faculty- shahrood university of technology- shahrood- semnan- iran

2 department of physical education, physical education and sport science, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Semnan, Iran

3 Sport Management Department, Physical Education Faculty, Shahrood university of technology, Shahrood,Semnan, Iran

4 Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the antecedents and consequences of refereeing crisis in professional football. Methodologically, the present study was a sequential mixed-method (qualitative-quantitative). In the qualitative section, for in-depth interviews, a targeted sampling method was used. Data were coded based on the qualitative content analysis approach after interviewing 15 experts. In the quantitative section, 10 experts were selected based on judgmental sampling, and data were analyzed by DEMATEL technique. Findings in the qualitative section showed that the antecedents of the refereeing crisis include 48 primary concepts and 6 sub-categories (Executive Management, Training and Employment, Supports and Environmental, Technical, Psychological) and the consequences of the arbitration crisis include 38 primary concepts and 6 sub-categories (Abnormal Behaviors, Weakening of the Refereeing Profession, Attitudinal, Technical, Psychological Consequences and Economic Damages). In the quantitative part, the results showed that the components of Executive Management, Support and Training and Employment (in antecedents) and Technical Consequences and Weakening of the Refereeing Profession (in consequences) are the most important and effective components. Therefore, it is suggested that football decision making organizations, in order to prevent and combat the refereeing crisis and reduce its consequences, first put the influential factors in the center of attention and priority consideration.

Keywords

  1. Aguirre-Loaiza, H., Holguín, J., Arenas, J., Núñez, C., Barbosa-Granados, S., & García-Mas, A. (2020). Psychological characteristics of sports performance: Analysis of professional and semiprofessional football referees. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 20(4), 1861-1868.
  2. Ai, K., Oldrich, R., Tan, H., & Xu, P. (2020). Sustainable Innovation in football referee training in Czech Republic. Sustainability, 12(7), 2821.
  3. Aragão e Pina, J., Passos, A. M., Carvalho, H., & Travis Maynard, M. (2019). To be or not to be an excellent football referee: Different experts’ viewpoints. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(6), 692-700.
  4. Boin, A., & Kuipers, S. (2018). The crisis approach. In Handbook of disaster research (pp. 23-38). Cham: Springer.
  5. Buraimo, B., Forrest, D., & Simmons, R. (2010). The 12th man? refereeing bias in English and German soccer. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 173(2), 431-449.
  6. Cholz, P., & Vespalec, T. (2019). Inside Slavia´ s supporters: Fans who control the football matches in Czechia. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 4(4), 818-829.
  7. Coombs, W. T. (2002). Deep and surface threats: Conceptual and practical implications for “crisis” vs. “problem”. Public Relations Review, 28(4), 339-345.
  8. Coombs, W. T. (2007). Attribution theory as a guide for post-crisis communication research. Public Relations Review, 33(2), 135-139.
  9. Ebrahim Nejhad, M. (2018). Crisis management (1st). Kerman: Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman.
  10. Faraji, R., Hemmatinezhad, M., & Taylor, T. (2018). Critical factors affecting stadiums security. Journal of Applied Security Research, 13(4), 473-488.
  11. García-Santos, D., Gómez-Ruano, M. A., Vaquera, A., & Ibáñez, S. J. (2020). Systematic review of basketball referees’ performances. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 20(3), 495-533.
  12. https://aftabnews.ir/fa/news/562346/
  13. https://www.etemadnewspaper.ir/fa/main/detail/8665/
  14. https://www.varzesh3.com/news/1659181/
  15. Karacam, A., & Adiguzel, N. S. (2019). Examining the relationship between referee performance and self-efficacy. European Journal of Educational Research, 8(1), 377-382.
  16. Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159-174.
  17. Luburić, R. (2019). A model of crisis prevention (Based on managing change, quality management and risk management). Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, 8(2), 33-49.
  18. Mehrabiyan, S., Hasannejad, M., & Barzegari Nejad, A. (2016). Ranking of factors affecting crisis management in sports venues based on AHP model. Paper presented at the First National Conference on Applied Studies in Sports Science, . (In Persian).
  19. Moerschell, L., & Novak, S. S. (2020). Managing crisis in a university setting: The challenge of alignment. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 28(1), 30-40.
  20. Momoh, D. M. M., & Olaseyo, T. (2021). Determinants of assault on Football League referees’ during competitions in Nigeria. Central European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine, 33, 127-133.
  21. Nazarian, A. B., Rahnama, N., Daneshjoo, A., Sadeghipour, H., Ashouri, H., & Nazarian, A. (2011). Factors affecting the refereeing of the Iranian Football Premier League. Sports Management Studies, 9, 193-204. (in Persian).
  22. Panahi, B., & Soleymannejad, M. (2018). Investigating the factors affecting the decisions of the referees of the Iranian Football Premier League. Paper presented at the Fourth National Conference on Sports Science and Physical Education of Iran, . (in Persian).
  23. Petersen, T. S., & Wichmann, S. S. (2021). Fairness, implicit bias testing and sports refereeing: An argument for why professional sports organisations ought to promote fairness in sport through testing referees for implicit biases. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 48(1), 97-110.
  24. Rafie, O., Ali Doost Ghahfarokhi, A., & Jafari Haji, A. (2018). The effective inhibiting factors of decision making in Iranian soccer referees. Journal of Sport Management and motor Behavior, 14(27), 155-166. (in Persian).
  25. Rahimi, V., & Nasiri, M. (2021). Meta-analysis of studies of the causes of Football spectator’s riots in Iran. Sport Management Studies, 12(64), . (in Persian).
  26. Ramezani, J., Razavi Mohmoodabadi, S. M. J., & Hosseini, H. (2015). The relationship between emotional intelligence with conflict management strategies) employees Youth and Sports General Directorate of Yazd province). Sport Management Studies, 27, 185-198. (in Persian).
  27. Russell, S., Renshaw, I., & Davids, K. (2019). How interacting constraints shape emergent decision-making of national-level football referees. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 573-588.
  28. Sameie, F., Elahi, A., & Afshari, M. (2021). Qualitative analysis of spectators's perceived value: A case study of Iran Football Premier League spectators. Sport Management Studies, 13(65). (in Persian).
  29. Samuel, R. D., Tenenbaum, G., & Galily, Y. (2020). An integrated conceptual framework of decision-making in soccer refereeing. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, , 1-23.
  30. Sayfollah Pour, P. (2013). A consideration of the factors influencing soccer referees' judgment? An Overview. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 3(5), 678-685.
  31. Soltani Banavandi, A., Ghorbani Ghahfarokhi, L., & Rahimi, A. (2020). Investigating the factors affecting the mistakes of the referees of League One and the Iranian Football Premier leagues. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management Studies in Sport, 7(4), 41-50. (in Persian).
  32. Ugwu, F., & Onyishi, I. (2013). Perceived biased refereeing, self-efficacy and mood states of players of visitor teams of the Nigerian amateur football league. Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 2(4), 136-143.
  33. Yusuf, A. O., Akinwusi, A. T., & Morakinyo, E. O. (2020). examining the level of stadium security and safety during Nigeria professional Football League matches. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science, 6(1), 26-42.
  34. Zelyurt, M. K., & Ataçocugu, M. S. (2017). Social pressure factors aimed at football referees in Turkey: A study on the 2nd league, 3rd league and amateur league referees. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 17(1), 107-116.
  35. Zhang, J. (2018). New characteristics of crisis communication in the sports events under the era of media convergence, 189, 41-44.