An integrated approach to understanding the demands impacting soccer officials' decision-making: implications for training and performance

Soccer officiating represents a highly challenging activity during which complex decisionmaking processes are performed under pressurised and physiologically taxing conditions. 
Though the multidimensional nature of soccer officiating is well accepted, previous literature 
has largely been monodisciplinary in nature, with the physiological, psychological, and 
perceptual-cognitive elements explored in isolation. During competitive match play, however, 
such demands are not experienced independently but are instead intricately linked. It therefore 
stands to reason that each should be considered in unison when evaluating the training and 
performances of soccer officials. With this in mind, the aims of this thesis were to: 1) develop 
valid and reliable measurement tools that could facilitate the multidisciplinary testing and 
evaluation of soccer officials; and 2) use these newly developed tools to collect information 
from which to inform and guide the future training prescription of soccer officials. 
Accordingly, Chapter 3 describes the development and validation of the Referee Training 
Activity Questionnaire (RTAQ) - a novel self-report questionnaire designed to quantify the 
engagement of soccer officials in the broad range of training practices pertinent to their 
successful performance. In demonstrating good levels of content, face, and criterion validity, 
the RTAQ was deemed an effective and practical method of monitoring the training practices 
of soccer officials. Building upon this work in Chapter 4, the RTAQ was utilised to document
the types and volumes of training engaged in by soccer officials of varying roles and levels of 
professional attainment. Findings broadly highlighted the training of match officials to be
focused on physical conditioning with little attention directed towards other facets of 
performance such as decision-making training. The exposure of officials to combined physical 
and decision-making training was found to be particularly limited, therefore underlining the 
need for a protocol that developed the decision-making and physical abilities of soccer officials 
in unison. Thus, the purpose of Chapter 5 was to assess the validity and reliability of a novel treadmill-based Soccer Referee Simulation (SRS) that combined match-related decisionmaking with the physiological conditions synonymous of match play. No differences were 
detected between the SRS and actual match play for any of the selected heart rate (HR)
measures, whilst the physiological and perceptual responses recorded were also aligned with 
those observed previously amongst elite field referees (FR). Physiological and perceptual 
responses elicited during the SRS were also found to be highly reproducible, with good levels 
of test-retest reliability observed for all outcome measures. The SRS was therefore found to 
be a valid and reliable protocol that closely replicates the physiological and perceptual loads 
imposed upon soccer FR during match play. Finally, the SRS was utilised in Chapter 6 to 
explore the impact that enhanced physiological loads have on the decision-making 
performances of soccer FR. Findings revealed for the first time that the accuracy of the 
decisions made by soccer FR may be compromised when decisions are made during (or shortly 
after) acute periods of extremely high physical exertion. Specifically, officials were found to 
be more likely to make a decisional error when: 1) HR ≥90% of maximal HR (HRmax); 2) 
respiratory rate (RR) ≥80% of peak RR (RRpeak); 3) ratings of perceived breathlessness (RPEB) was rated as very strong to maximal (75–100 au); and 4) running speeds ≥250 m·min-1 were 
performed. Taken together, the current programme of research has made numerous original 
contributions to the literature concerning the science of soccer officiating and offers important 
implications of both a practical and theoretical nature.