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Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse

Emergent research has investigated the impact of abuse on the decision of match officials to leave their sport. The existing literature is largely descriptive and qualitative. Based on large surveys of football referees in France and the Netherlands, this paper investigates the factors that are asso...

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Main Authors: Peter Dawson, Tom Webb, Paul Downward
Format: Default Article
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/13607777.v1
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author Peter Dawson
Tom Webb
Paul Downward
author_facet Peter Dawson
Tom Webb
Paul Downward
author_sort Peter Dawson (736912)
collection Figshare
description Emergent research has investigated the impact of abuse on the decision of match officials to leave their sport. The existing literature is largely descriptive and qualitative. Based on large surveys of football referees in France and the Netherlands, this paper investigates the factors that are associated with the verbal and physical abuse of the referees and also the association of this abuse with the intentions of referees to quit officiating. The associations are investigated by estimating the marginal effects from bivariate probit and probit models respectively. Bivariate probit estimation reveals a strong correlation between each form of abuse. Both, unsurprisingly, are also positively associated with years of experience of referees. Probit estimation reveals that both forms of abuse as well as intimidation from refereeing certain teams are associated with an increased consideration of referees to quit. As increased intention to quit is also associated with the experience of the referee it is likely that the effect of abuse on referee considerations of quitting increase through time. The main conclusions are that the alternative forms of abuse are not zero-sum and both should be targeted by governing bodies to reduce the decline in number of football referees. The data show that support of referees, for example through mentoring, can offset stated intentions to quit.
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spelling rr-article-136077772021-02-21T00:00:00Z Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse Peter Dawson (736912) Tom Webb (8266947) Paul Downward (1256445) intention to quit physical abuse verbal abuse Match officials Emergent research has investigated the impact of abuse on the decision of match officials to leave their sport. The existing literature is largely descriptive and qualitative. Based on large surveys of football referees in France and the Netherlands, this paper investigates the factors that are associated with the verbal and physical abuse of the referees and also the association of this abuse with the intentions of referees to quit officiating. The associations are investigated by estimating the marginal effects from bivariate probit and probit models respectively. Bivariate probit estimation reveals a strong correlation between each form of abuse. Both, unsurprisingly, are also positively associated with years of experience of referees. Probit estimation reveals that both forms of abuse as well as intimidation from refereeing certain teams are associated with an increased consideration of referees to quit. As increased intention to quit is also associated with the experience of the referee it is likely that the effect of abuse on referee considerations of quitting increase through time. The main conclusions are that the alternative forms of abuse are not zero-sum and both should be targeted by governing bodies to reduce the decline in number of football referees. The data show that support of referees, for example through mentoring, can offset stated intentions to quit. 2021-02-21T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 2134/13607777.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Abuse_is_not_a_zero-sum_game_The_case_for_zero_tolerance_of_match_official_physical_and_verbal_abuse/13607777 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
spellingShingle intention to quit
physical abuse
verbal abuse
Match officials
Peter Dawson
Tom Webb
Paul Downward
Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
title Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
title_full Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
title_fullStr Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
title_full_unstemmed Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
title_short Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
title_sort abuse is not a zero-sum game! the case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse
topic intention to quit
physical abuse
verbal abuse
Match officials
url https://hdl.handle.net/2134/13607777.v1