Rugby Referees Research Articles

Argumenting the need for integrated training of highly qualified rugby referees

Argumenting the need for integrated training of highly qualified rugby referees

Comparing the Yo-Yo intermittent and Bronco tests and their associations with match demands among amateur rugby union referees

This study compared the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 (YYIR1) and Bronco tests among amateur rugby referees and examined whether the results of these tests were associated with actual match demands. Sixty-seven (65 male, 2 female; 30 ± 11 years; 77.4 ± 13.1 kg; 175 ± 8 cm) amateur rugby referees participated. Match demands were assessed using Global Navigation Satellite System technology and heart rate (HR) recordings. Significant correlations (all p < 0.05) were found between the YYIR1 and Bronco test results ( r: −0.88). The YYIR1 test was significantly correlated with match demands including total ( r: 0.56) and high-intensity ( r: 0.70) distance covered, maximal speed reached ( r: 0.73), and the number of high-intensity accelerations ( r: 0.54) and sprints ( r: 0.68) completed. Furthermore, YYIR1 test maximum HR was significantly correlated with maximum HR ( r: 0.72), average HR ( r: 0.54), and internal load ( r: 0.55) during match play. In contrast, the Bronco test was only significantly correlated with match demands including maximal speed reached ( r: −0.68) and the number of high-intensity accelerations ( r: −0.61). Moreover, Bronco test maximum HR was significantly correlated with maximal ( r: 0.84) and average HR ( r: 0.73) during match play. The results suggest that while the YYIR1 and Bronco tests might both be efficient tools to guide training prescription, the YYIR1 test might be as the more valuable test to assess match fitness in rugby referees.

Positive Behavior Management: Assessment of Rugby Referees in Children Sport.

During children’s sports competitions, the referees play a special role. The referees are expected to be able to identify behavioral problems (of players, coaches, and fans), applying specific techniques to prevent negative behavior of players. Adapting these actions to the specifics of the group or individuals is crucial in providing a safe educational environment that promotes child development. The main objective of this research was to assess the quality of referees’ interactions with players in terms of positive behavior management and proficiency during rugby matches of children aged 6–12 years. Twenty-three rugby referees officiating matches organized by the Polish Rugby Union in Poland participated in the study. The research used the Referee–Players’ Interaction Assessment Scoring System tool. Additionally, referee–player interactions were recorded with a GoPro 8 camera along with audio from a wireless intercom. The significance of differences between the ratings for each indicator was tested by chi-squared test, while a non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the mean ratings of positive behavior management and proficiency. The Mann–Whitney U-test was used to compare differences between assessments of experienced and inexperienced referees. The observations showed that referees were rated significantly higher in the proficiency dimension than in positive behavior management dimension. Nevertheless, both ratings represent an average level of quality of interactions with the players. The referee’s experience did not determine the quality of his or her interactions with the players in the specific dimensions. The following conclusion was drawn from the research: referees should be trained in the methods and techniques for managing player behavior and should act to prevent the occurrence of negative behavior, by presenting clear and understandable expectations to players before the match and using preventive measures.

Referee positioning, but not match demands, score difference, or field location, are associated with breakdown decision-making accuracy in elite rugby sevens referees

ABSTRACT This study quantified rugby referees’ decision-making accuracy at the breakdown in an elite rugby sevens tournament, examining whether decision-making accuracy differed over time, and if it was associated with match demands, score difference, field location, and referee positioning. During the National Sevens Tournament (six referees, 22 matches), decision-making accuracy was analysed using video coding from 602 breakdowns and match demands were examined using GNSS technology and heart rate recordings. Overall, the referees had a decision-making accuracy of 88.2% with no changes over time (all p > 0.05). There were no significant associations between match demands, score difference, or field location and decision-making accuracy (all p > 0.05). However, significantly more incorrect decisions occurred when the referees were in a suboptimal position (29.0%) compared to an optimal position (10.9%) at the breakdown (p < 0.05). The findings suggest that referees’ decision-making accuracy during the breakdown remains relatively consistent across an elite rugby sevens tournament. While unaffected by match demands, score difference or field location, referees’ decision-making accuracy may be improved by optimising their positioning at the breakdown.

Sources of Stress and Refereeing Experience of Active Kenya Rugby Union Referees

Background: Rugby referees have for a long time volunteered to officiate matches in Kenya yet refereeing as an activity is stressful. Objective: This study used a cross-sectional descriptive research design to investigate the impact of the experience of the active rugby union referees in Kenya on the sources of stress affecting them. Method: A Sources of Officiating Stress Questionnaire (SOSQ) (Voight, 2009) was used to collect data from all referees(n=80) who actively refereed matches during the 2016 / 2017 Kenya Rugby Union season. The independent variable tested in the questionnaire was experience of the referees, whereas the dependent variables were sources of stress. Results: Referees with an experience of between 5 to 10 years encountered stress from most of the sources (Mean= 3.17, SD=0.62) whereas those with an experience of between 10 to 20 years encountered stress from the least of the sources (Mean=2.93, SD=0.60). Findings indicated that there was a significant mean difference in sources of stress across refereeing experience (F-statistic =2.175, p=0.009). Conclusion: It was concluded that all active referees experienced stress from different sources despite their years of experience.

Physical demands on elite lead rugby union referees

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to determine the physical demands on elite rugby referees by measuring match duration and some key global positioning system (GPS) metrics such as distance covered, heart rate, speed and metabolic power and to assess whether physical demands changed during the course of the match (first half vs. second half). Physical profile data and GPS metrics were collected from 17 elite referees during 205 matches. Mean match duration was 98 min and distance covered was 6 826 m. Referees produced 5% more metabolic power during the first half of a match (mean: 6.2 W/kg) compared to the second half. Referees spent 27% of the time in the “work zone” (speed 4.1 m/s and above). During a match, referees spent 46.8% of the time below 80% HRmax. Mean numbers of high-speed accelerations, decelerations and sprints/surges were approximately 20% lower during the second half. Comparison of between-individual and within-individual variation of referee physical performance suggests that referees generally performed consistently. Factors such as referee experience and increased rates of substitution might contribute to the reduced power measures during the second half. The results from this investigation can contribute to the development of lead rugby referee-specific physical conditioning programmes.

High prevalence of tobacco-related at-risk behavior in rugby referees: Contemporary data from a large regional survey

Background Although rugby referees are at risk given the highly demanding and intermittent nature of physical activity during match and training, their cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, in particular smoking, has been only poorly investigated. Moreover, as they may have an educational role for delivering preventive message, referees knowledge on healthy behaviour, including tobacco consumption, is of great concern. Methods In 2017, an anonymous questionnaire through an electronic link on tobacco smoking and vaping habits was sent to all the French Rugby Federation referees covering the Burgundy region. Among the 84 regional referees, 71 (85%) filled in the questionnaire and were included in the analysis. Results All referees were male, and 46% were >35 y old. Almost half (44%) were also player (37%) or coach (24%). Surprisingly, the smoking prevalence was quite high (32%), half smokers were heavy daily (>16 cig/d) and 30% were long-lasting (>11y) smokers. Although a minority of referees has smoked Conclusion Our works, in a representative sample of referees at regional scale, highlight a high prevalence of tobacco smoking, in particular after a rugby session, and vaping. Targeting referees to health information could reduce their CV risk and, as a high-rate of them are also coaches, amplify the preventive effect of such programs.

Community based rugby referees’ experiences with recruitment and retention

The retention of sports referees is a critical factor in the ability of local, state and national sporting organisations to deliver community sport to players on a regular weekly basis. A number of studies have been dedicated to investigating the retention rates of coaches and players, however less scrutiny has focused upon why sports referees' commit to undertake the officiating task. This research looked at the factors which influence the continuing participation of community based rugby referees in New South Wales, Australia. The results indicate that the camaraderie amongst referees, their level of enjoyment and success experienced were the key elements in the decision to remain involved. Potential negative factors such as abuse and stress were not found to be contributing factors to this decision.

Confrontations with traces of one’s own activity

In everyday life, situations involving confrontation with the traces of our activities are becoming commonplace, through technologies that objectivate and make available our experiences and conduct. Our "informational ecologies" are increasingly reflexive, which elicits performative effects and a mediated return to self, or a dialectic between subject and object which produces transformations. This is the case, for example, with diabetic diaries, through which patients develop a mastery of their pathology, or with a new automatic epileptic seizure detection device that leads different actors to confront their points of view on the relevant experiential data and inscriptions. In addition, self-confrontation, or confrontation with video/audio/written traces of one's own activity, is a powerful reflexive device, this time set up by the researcher. The observable video traces of the lived activity mediate experiences, to help subjects to remember and to describe in detail the activity carried out or to re-elaborate it, and thus to develop knowledge to act and knowledge about the action. There are two types of objectives here: (1) to describe subjet’s experiences in phenomenological detail in order to gain an elaborate understanding of the activity at hand (e.g. musician-composer, rugby referees); (2) to provoke an analytical and collective elaboration and the emergence of controversies for the development of skills and activity (e.g. construction workers).

Physiological responses of sub-elite rugby referees during representative match play

Physiological responses of sub-elite rugby referees during representative match play

Decision-making by experienced rugby referees: use of perceptual information and episodic memory.

The expertise paradigm was used in two studies to examine decision-making by rugby referees. Videoclips were used to assess infraction detection and knowledge base, or sources of information used. In Study 1, referees of high and low experience were compared, and in Study 2 referees and players were compared. Analysis by signal detection used a framework to classify types of information. Study 1 yielded no differences in detection of infractions as a function of experience, however, referees of high experience used significantly more sources of information than the group with low experience across all categories of information. In Study 2, there were no significant differences between referees and players, with the exception that referees displayed greater use of episodic memory information in decision-making.

Losing It: The Importance Of Anxiety and Mood Stabhjty In Sport

Interest in anxiety, stress, and mood in sport has frequently focused on the impact of these variables on performance in sport (Jones, 1995). This body of work has generally defined anxiety and stress in negative terms, and little attention has been directed at the importance of the loss of mood and anxiety stability in sport. The broad purpose of this study was to highlight the importance of the meaning that participants in sport attach to anxiety and other mood states, in part by drawing on theoretical perspectives provided by existential psychology. More specifically, the greater focus on the importance of loss in relation to both the emotional and behavioral lives of individuals in sport represents a departure from concern over levels of mood and anxiety, which has dominated most research in this area. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative diary data provided over a 28-day period by elite-level netball players and rugby referees revealed that losses in terms of mood stability correlated more strongly with important non-sport-related life events and that anxiety levels did not rise in the predicted fashion prior to matches. These and other illustrative results are discussed in relation to the need to use methodological approaches that facilitate the generation of individualized combined quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data

Ratings of stress by rugby referees.

682 rugby referees from Wales, Scotland, and England rated their stress associated with refereeing on a 3-item scale. Mean ratings for the total sample and each group were between "very little" and "a moderate amount." Results support earlier studies, suggesting that most sport officials do not experience much stress while officiating.