Referees 'tough as old
boots'
A study of football referees has
revealed they are the toughest people on the pitch.
A
psychological profile carried out by university researchers showed
that they - not the players - are cool, confident, and have nerves of
steel.
Dr Nick Neave, from Northumbria University, said only the strongest
characters could survive the immense stresses of refereeing.
He found referees share similarities with policemen, military men and
hard-nosed politicians.
Sports psychology
Dr Neave said: "They are a very strong, robust, confident set of
people who have developed a very strong set of coping mechanisms,"
"In psychological terms, they are very tough people."
They did not get nervous before games, were not concerned about
sending players off or awarding penalties and took abuse in their
stride.
While not immune to criticism, they seldom acknowledged being in the
wrong.
Dr Neave carried out his research with sports psychologist Dr Sandy
Wolfson.
'Shot to death'
They discovered that a football referee jogs about 10 kilometres in an
average game.
Half the referees confessed to conflict between officiating at games
and their jobs and family life.
But every one of them thought the time spent refereeing was
worthwhile.
The biggest surprise came when the referees were asked about their
reaction to abuse.
Dr Neave added: "Referees get punched, kicked, even shot to death by
players, coaches, owners and fans.
"But they regarded abuse as being very, very low stress, which we
hadn't expected."
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