Kinematic and physiological analysis of the performance of the football referee and its relationship with decision making

• Main Authors: Carlos David Gómez Carmona, José Pino Ortega
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Alicante 2017-03-01
• Series: Journal of Human Sport and Exercise
• Subjects: Referee; Assistant referee; Heart rate; Velocity; Acceleration; High intensity work; Distance performed; Decision making
• Online Access: https://www.jhse.ua.es/article/view/2016-v11-n4-kinematic-physiological-analysis-performance-football-referee-decision-making

The aim of this study was to examine the cinematic and physiological requirements of referees and assistant referees and their relationship to decision-making in various official competition matches in football. The sample consisted of six referees, one acted as main referee and five as assistant referees (age: 21.2 ± 0.98 years; height: 175.67 ± 4.27 cm, weight: 65.73 ± 4.68 kg). The registration of the data of the subjects participating in the study was conducted with an inertial system called WIMU and the analysis of the data was performed with a software called Quiko (RealTrack Systems, Almeria, Spain). In the study, 4 games of the League Championship Third Division (Group XIII) belonging to the 2014-2015 season were analyzed. The main findings were that the referee runs an average distance of 10124.7 ± 543.2 meters, with an average speed between 7.2 and 13 km/h with a maximum heart rate (HRmax) between 85-95% of his maximum; assistant referees walked an average distance of 5793.4 ± 481.7 meters, with an average speed between 3.6 to 7.2 km/h with a HRmax between 75-85% of their maximum. The aspects which influenced the decision making of the referees and caused the errors were: the part of the pitch, the period of play and the HRmax percentage of the referee. What this research shows is that referees and assistant referees should be considered in terms of training as independent people, and that referees must correct the movements in the field, concentration and work situations where your HRmax is above 85% to improve its success rate. Future studies should pursue this investigation with a greater number of senior officials and higher number of matches to generalize the results to all arbitral establishments and improve its quality.