Current Situation of Referees in the Top League and Their Constraints Negotiation

Abstract

In recent years, even as the management forms of many leagues and teams and the contract forms of players have become professional, the environment provided for referees to judge and manage matches has not kept pace. In the future, improving not only the performance of the athletes, but also the qualifications of the referees will be indispensable for improving their competitiveness in various sports. It is not clear what the referees currently active in the top leagues of each sport are doing on a daily basis. This study aims to clarify : the current state of referees active in the top leagues of domestic ball games, and the regular efforts made by the referees to take part in refereeing activities. We conducted a questionnaire survey for referees in 12 leagues of the nine sports that make up the Japan Top League alliance. The survey was conducted from March 9 to April 7, 2019, and responses were obtained from 310 referees (260 males, 50 females). According to the analysis, there were only seven professional referees who earned a living solely from referee activities. Further, the average number of games per year in which they officiated was 33.61 (median : 30), and the average number of days during the season they were involved in refereeing activities was 76.51 (median : 60). These results show that many referees spend most of their weekends during the season in refereeing. Regarding the daily efforts to participate in refereeing activities, it was found that many referees routinely manage their time. In particular, it was found that referees with extensive experience have eliminated the constraints that make past experience the basis for participation in refereeing activities.