The question most asked about referees is simply 'why do they do it?' The answer is of course just as simple, they do it because they love football. Many take
up refereeing when they are too old to play any more or are injured and want to stay in the game.
For others it is the only way of getting to the top in the game, as they lack the necessary footballing skills. But what actually makes a top referee?
Just before Christmas, Reading referees heard some intriguing facts on the subject from Professor Craig Mahoney, who is Dean and Professor of Applied Sports Psychology at the University of Wolverhamton. What gave him his insight, was his role as a sports and exercise psychologist contracted to the Premiership Select groups of referees between 2001 and 2005.
The question may be asked, why do the top referees in this country need a psychologist? I think if anyone in the game needs a little help, then it is the Premiership referees. Look at what they face every matchday. Despite the fact that they and their assistants, are the only ones in the ground who are not interested in who wins, they have to accept 20 cameras that will dissect every decision that they make.
Not only that, every decision will be wrong in someone's eyes and the fans, as many as 75,000 of them in some cases, are going to let them know what they think, in no uncertain terms,. They are also expected to manage the players, the match, the managers and the crowd. As well as helping with their mental toughness, psychologists can help them with their communication skills. This is something we try and instil in new referees on our referees training courses. Good communication can help prevent dissent and confrontation.
Pressures exist at every level of refereeing but the higher you go up the ladder the more intense the pressures become. For the top referees there are also hidden pressures. Assessors at every match. Internal competition for games, for every referee wants to do the best games.
So Craig Mahoney had plenty to work on. He was also in a good position to look at the personalities of the select group of referees. He found they were self-assured, outgoing, confident and strong willed. Always committed and controlled and always prepared to make difficult decisions. Drawing up a profile he found they had an average age 42.5, had been on the Premiership an average of almost 5 years and most of them were from professional backgrounds. - education, police, management, a third of them being graduates.
The fact that I found particularly interesting was that most of them were the oldest in their family. The reason that I find that so interesting is because of new research, by another psychologist, Richard Wiseman, which suggests that your personality is all down to an accident of birth. The conclusion he drew after testing the personality of 1000 adults was that the first born in a family, tends to more serious and achievement-driven.
Although this is a new survey, other researchers have come to the same conclusion. There is even a book entitled, 'First born rule the world and last born want to change it'. Researchers at the University of California agree, pointing out that most of the US Presidents have been first borns, including George W Bush and Bill Clinton, whilst revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Fidel Castro were younger siblings.
What all this means of course is that to get to the top in refereeing, you don’t have to be the oldest in your family but it seems that it gives you the right characteristics to get there. Oh and in case you are wondering, I was the last born and yes, I have always been trying to change the world.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2007