Despite the widespread abuse of sport officials, there is no research on the long-term impact of this type of workplace violence on the health of referees. Accordingly, our main research objectives are to examine the (1) short- and long-term influence of exposure to workplace violence of physical and mental health, (2) interaction effects of individual (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender) and contextual (e.g., workplace characteristics, provincial policies) factors on the relation between violence exposure and health, and (3) indirect effects or multiple reciprocal processes on physical and mental health in relation to workplace violence. We are conducting youth and adult referee studies to examine health outcomes for both youth and adult referees.
One example of referee abuse happened in March 2022: a 15-year-old Ontario referee was threatened by an adult in the parking lot following a soccer game that involved him officiating children. In any other context, this behaviour would be called child abuse. In the context of sports, it is “part of the game”, a tolerated intolerable. But how can the above, and what follows, be part of the game?
My daughter [age 14] was yelled at by a coach for what he thought was a wrong call. He then belittled her in front of the team during the game. My daughter tried to stay strong and told him that if he didn’t stop, the game would end. At the end, he followed her off the field and accosted her by himself. A few parents followed. She stood her ground but was so traumatized afterward, she could not referee another summer.
Source: Ontario Soccer, 2020 Referee Survey