38. REFEREE AND RULES

P-146 Analysis of between-half work rates in English Premier League soccer referees

Matthew Weston¹, Carlo Castagna², Franco Impellizzeri³, Ermanno Rampinini³ and Grant Abt^4
1Pgmol, The FA Premier League, 30 Gloucester Place, London, UK, ²School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Uni. of Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, ³Human Performance Laboratory, S.s.mapei Srl, Via Don Minzoni 34, Castellanza, Varese, Italy, ⁴St Martin's College, Lancaster, UK.

OBJECTIVE The analysis of between-half distance coverage can reveal the occurrence of fatigue and/or refereeing strategies; both of which would be classified as determinants of overall physical match performance. However, the literature presents conflicting evidence with regards to this aspect of physical match performance in referees. The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of first half activity on the physical match performances of English Premier League soccer referees during the second half of matches.

METHODS Match analysis data was collected using the Prozone® match analysis system from 19 full-time, profes-sional soccer referees during a total of 254 matches in the 2004-2005 football season. Physical match performances were classified into two separate categories: 1) total distance covered (TD); 2) high-intensity running distance (running speed > 5.5m/s-1, HIR).

RESULTS The referees covered less TD during the 2nd half of the match (5790±416 vs. 5832±389m, p=0.04). HIR was consistent between halves (391±139 vs. 396±142m, p=0.54). When the TD and HIR data set were divided into three subsets ('High', 'Medium' and 'Low') according to score rankings on the basis of distances covered in the 1st half significant interactions were found for the 1st half distance x time.

CONCLUSION The results of this study appear to support the observation that referees moderate their behaviour dur-ing a match to avoid fatigue. Further examination is required as to whether reduced physical performances in the second half of matches are a consequence of referee fatigue, tactical strategies on behalf of the referee or reduced player match activities resulting in a slower tempo of match.

KEY WORDS Association football, match analysis, fatigue, intermittent exercise, referee.

P-147 Interpretation and application of the laws of the game in football incidents leading to player injuries

Gilis Bart¹, Helsen Werner¹, Weston Matthew¹, Junge Astrid² and Dvorak Jiri^2
1Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Department of Biomedical Kinesiology, Belgium, ²FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC)

OBJECTIVE Previous research has shown that the majority of the injuries occurring during competitive football (soc-cer) matches are caused by physical contact (Junge et al., 2004). In this respect, it is the match referee who is responsi-ble for interpreting and implementing the laws of the game in an appropriate way, thereby protecting the players from a potential risk of injury through unfair challenges. The objectives of the present study were 1) to assess whether the laws of the game adequately protected players from injury in player to player contact situations, and 2) examine if there was a need for an improvement in the standard of refereeing. This study also investigated how various groups involved in professional football interpreted the laws of the game to sanction foul play.

METHODS The FIFA refereeing department determined a reference decision for 60 player-to-player contact incidents from the 2002 World Cup, all resulting in a player injury. This reference was compared with the decision of the match referee. Four expert panels (players, coaches, medical staff and referees) also assessed all incidents and expressed an appropriate sanction (nonfoul, foul, yellow or red card). The level of agreement was calculated between the FIFA refer-ence and the match referees decision and with the different panels.

RESULTS The results showed that the FIFA reference decision indicated that the laws of the game were adequate for the majority of the situations (70%). Secondly, the match referees' decision was in agreement with the reference in 57% of the incidents. Finally, the level of agreement between the referees' panel and the FIFA reference decision was higher than with any other panel (Figure 1).


Figure 1. Agreement scores (%) between the different panels and both the FIFA refer-ence and the match referee decision.

DISCUSSION The results showed that in a vast majority of the incidents, the laws of the game could deal with foul play. The discrepancy that was observed between the FIFA reference decision and the interpretation and application of the laws of the game by the actual match referee clearly has implications for post-match disciplinary procedures based on video replays in major football competitions.

REFERENCES
Junge et al. (2004) American Journal of Sports Medicine 32 (Suppl.1), 23S-28S.

KEY WORDS Contact injury, foul play, decision making.

P-148 Offside decision-making process in association football using recall paradigm

Peter Catteeuw , Bart Gilis and Werner Helsen
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

OBJECTIVE During the FIFA World Cup 2002, assistant referees (ARs) assessed, on average, 5.3 offside situations per match (Helsen et al., 2006). On a total of 337 offside situations, there was an error percentage of 26.2%. To reduce the number of incorrect offside decisions, it is important to fully understand the underlying mechanisms that may im-pact on the correctness of offside decisions. This study investigated the offside decision-making process in computer animations using the recall paradigm (Chase & Simon, 1973). The purpose of this paradigm was to objectively record if the attackers were perceived ahead of their actual position, and if so, to what extent.

METHODS FIFA ARs (n=23) and Belgian elite ARs (n=21) assessed 2 sets of 32 computer-based offside situations. The position of the attacker relative to the offside line was experimentally manipulated. The ARs had to judge the off-side situations and also had to recall the positions of the attacker and second-to-last defender who were involved in the offside situation on a replication of the field of play.

RESULTS In terms of response adequacy, FIFA ARs (72.9%) performed significantly better than the Belgian elite ARs (63.2%). FIFA ARs were also more accurate in recalling the positions of the attacker and second-to-last defender than the Belgian elite ARs. Interestingly, all ARs marked the attacker less ahead of his actual position the more the attacker was positioned closer to the offside line.

DISCUSSION The results of the recall showed that ARs perceived the players ahead of their actual position. This may be explained by the flash-lag effect (Baldo et al., 2002). Therefore, ARs should be aware of the perceptual processes that come into play when judging offside situations. Alternative training tools such as video clips and computer anima-tions may be considered to improve offside decision-making.

REFERENCES
Baldo et al. (2002) Perception 31, 1205-1210.
Chase et al. (1973) Cognitive Psychology 4, 55-81.
Helsen et al. (2006) Journal of Sports Sciences 24, 521-528.

KEY WORDS Offside decision-making, perception, assistant referees, recall paradigm.

P-149 Job satisfaction in Turkish football referees

Ibrahim Erdemir and Hasan Ali Tekin
Trakya University, School of Physical Education and Sports, Edirne, Turkey

OBJECTIVE The referees have responsibility for control of players' behaviour and game during competitive football and implementing the rules of the game. When governing a football match, referees should give true decisions in sec-onds. If their job satisfaction isn't enough, their decisions may be affected. The purpose of this study was to investigate and determine the job satisfaction of the Turkish football referees and their expectations of the headquarters of referee committee.

METHODS Research is made up of assigned 100 referees (super league assistant, II. league A, II. league B, III. League C, C assistant) who participated in a course given by the headquarters of referee committee in Edirne in 2004. Ques-tionnaire was used that asses the opinion and observation of football referee. Paired-samples t test was used to compare between the opinion and observation of the referees at significant level of p<0,05 and p<0,01.

RESULTS Referees' answers showed that they like to be a football referee. However, there are significant differences between the opinion and observation of football referees. The questions about money, transportation, security, equip-ment and facility are significantly different at level of p<0,01. Nevertheless, the questions about referee committee and its honesty are significantly different at level of p<0,05.

DISCUSSION The referees have responsibility for control of everything in the football area. Referees should get enough education about football, to manage the matches more efficiently. In addition, video training is discussed as an additional method for improving match officials' decision making. Referees would be protected from the outer factors before the match that would effect their decisions, provided that they have enough self-confidence.

KEY WORDS football referee, job satisfaction

P-150 Deconstructing referee

Baris Sentuna
Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Education, Physical Education and Sports Department, Ankara, Turkey

OBJECTIVE The introduction part of this paper considers the status of referee in today's football game. The first part of the paper deals with deconstruction. The theory of deconstruction, as presented by famous philosopher Jacques Der-rida, is explained in detail. How deconstructions work? The main philosophical concern of deconstruction and the way it uses history of philosophy is presented.

METHODS Second part of this paper is based on the resemblances between referee and priest. The first resemblance is from the clothing. The second argument will be the argument of reference. The third part is the Church and the FIFA resemblance argument. "In what ways are the wrong decisions of referee and priest are subject to penalty?" are pre-sented in this third argument.

RESULTS Third part of this paper is based on the decision and undecidability concepts of Derrida together with the concept of "aporia". In this part the decision making process of the referee is discussed together with the resemblances and differences between referee, priest and judge. The conclusions of this discussion are compared with the case of referee.

CONCLUSION In the conclusion part of this paper the pressure on the referee is re-defined and re-examined with respect to the jobs that are put into analysis, lawyer and priest. This pressure together with the explanation of the Church argument is also defined from the perspective of FIFA. What is needed for future is the main question of this conclusion part.

KEY WORDS Soccer referee, deconstructing referee.

P-151 A research on sprint and vertical jump capabilities of professional football league referees in Turkey

Surhat Muniroglu
School of Physical Education and Sports University of Ankara

OBJECTIVE Nowadays soccer is being played faster than before. It is getting increased soccer player's speed. It is so important for soccer referees capabilities of speed, quickness and quick strength to keep up with playing tempo. The purpose of this research was study speed, vertical jump, age, training age and levels of level referees.

METHODS This research was made on all levels of football referees (556) in Turkish Professional leagues in 2005-2006- season. 30 meter speed test were measured 1 meter from behind line by photocell with 0,01 sensitivity. Vertical jump test were measured by jump meter steadily. Average of arithmetical and value of standard deviation of age, train-ing age, height, weight, speed and vertical jump of soccer referees:

Table 1. Information on football referees.

RESULTS Corelation and anova results between ages, levels, training ages and vertical jump, speed of soccer referees Level C was faster than assisting level C. It was observed that younger referees with high training age were faster and higher in vertical jump. As a result, younger referee is with high training ages have beter speed and vertical jump capa-bilities. There was a statistically significant relation in a research on sprint capabilities of different level soccer referees in Ankara (Kayısoglu and Koz) Speed of referees is very important in 105x68 meter soccer field. Sprint capabilities of referees can not be thought independently from sprint capabilities of soccer players. Soccer players avarage of 30 meter sprint capability in Turkey is 4,00-4,22 second (Taskın, 2006).

Table 2. Values of referees.


DISCUSSION There was a weak, negative and significant relation between age and vertical jump. As age increased, vertical jump values decreased. There was a positive, weak and significant relation between age and sprint capabilities. As age increased, sprint values increased. Vertical jump values according to different levels. Level B has lower jump level compared to level C and assisting level C. Level C has a higher jump level compared to assisting level C. Speed values according to different levels. Level B is slower than assisting level C and faster than level C. Sprint and vertical jump capabilities of soccer refrees are significant in choosing refrees and determing their levels.

REFERENCES
Kayısoglu et al. (2002) 7th International Sports Science Congress. Antalya
Taskin (2006) Ankara University Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science 4, 49-53.

KEY WORDS Referee, speed, level, verticaljump.

P-152 Career development of youth football players in J-League Academy: Case of career formation and career orientation

Yoshiaki Iida¹, Kanshi Uemukai² and Ayumi Yaya Yamamoto^3
1Senshu University, ²Musashi University, ³Loughborough University

OBJECTIVE Majority of professional players have gone through the competitive market and forced out of sport to choose the second career in some years. While more research is available on career transition, most of the previous works focused on the after-retirement career, and thus little is known to understand how the young football players perceive their career throughout their developmental phase. By focusing on the perceptions of male young footballers this research intended to examine initial and later involvement in football (socialization process as a football player) and
the future career orientation and choice.

METHODS The subjects of this research were 261 young football players from 11 different J-League youth teams. A questionnaire was constructed around their attributes, the factors of their construction of career paths as football player, their satisfaction of their current surroundings and future career orientation.

RESULTS More than 90% of players started playing football before the age of 9. Their own decision was the biggest motive for involving in playing football, followed by the recommendation from friends, brothers, and parents in order. To continue playing football, future plan for higher education and job-hunting appeared to be the players' biggest anxie-ties and concerns (46.4%).

DISCUSSION The youth players in J-League teams were influenced by parents, brothers and peer groups and watching matches with a desire to become professional player. More than half of players were concerned about their future aca-demic and occupational career. Nevertheless, the older they got, the higher career orientation with the specific aim for becoming professional player they drived for.

KEY WORDS J-League Academy youth football players, career development, career orientation.

P-153 Analysis of strategic planning in Asian institute of rugby

Koh Sasaki², Takashi Katsuta¹, Yuich Ueno³, Ichiro Watanabe⁷, Ichiro Kono⁴, Shuhei Ya-mashita⁵, Koji Tokumasu⁶, Akane Kagawa⁶ and Emmy Masuo^6
1Sendai University, ²Nagoya University, ³Ryutu Keizai University, ⁴Tsukuba University, ⁵Ibaraki Prefectural Uni-versity of Health Science, ⁶Japanese Rugby Union, ⁷Musashi Institute of Technology, Japan

OBJECTIVE The development of Rugby in Asia will spread rugby to a global level. Asian Institute of Rugby (AIR) will link the rugby working for the development of Asian and world Rugby. The purpose of this study is discussed about the advantage of rugby in Asia and about development of human resources.

METHODS Direct interviewing with the key persons of AIR was conducted to make a discourse analysis of the quali-tative structure of the strategic planning of AIR.

RESULTS Some supporting activities like 'kit aid' and 'consulting the Asian International competitions' have occurred in 2006. Until 2006, all activities were from Japan to the other unions, but the cooperative works have been gradually increased.

DISCUSSION The cognition of AIR could be extended in Asian Unions step by step. There are some planning of sci-entific conference or practical seminar. And International Rugby Board (IRB) deepens recognition gradually.

KEY WORDS Rugby Union, strategic planning, Asia, management.