Effect of Injuries on Elite Referees - Research Proposal Example

EFFECT OF INJURIES ON ELITE REFEREES Football is among the most loved sports on earth. As sport, football is governed by set of rules which guides conduct of players on the pitch. Referees are the match officials who ensure that the players adhere to these rules. I would be impossible therefore to have a football match without guidance of a football referees. Referees assisted by their two assistant referees ensure that players adhere to the rules of the game. Effect of referees’ decision on the match results is thus immense. Referees like players suffer injuries during the game or on training and this must influence their performance. Several researches have been conducted on the influence of referees on the match results. Some have argued that the most influence arise from their emotional attachment to a particular team. This paper seeks to analyze the effect of these injuries on referees. The paper will therefore provide information on whether injuries influence decision making ability of the referees. Analyze and present defending data on whether injuries make referees more effective by enhancing their sensitivity or not. The paper will be guided by one research question, that is, what is the effect of injuries on elite referees? Literature Review The recent future has seen an ever increasing interest in football refereeing as a career, leading to in turn increase in frequency of injury with the resulting cost for treatment and loss of match officiating time. This has resulted into introduction of prevention such as injury prevention program (Bahr et al 2004). This has also increased the need for developing and support programs that enhance research on injuries among elite referees. In analyzing the literature, there are only peer-reviewed studies on referees’ injuries. One of these publications is Australia Rules Football (ARF). Brukner et al. (1991) describes comparison of injuries in ARF and re referees. Match demands for football players are similar for referees. From the publication, the time lost due to injuries were recorded for 22 matches of the 1989 season. The paper done by Fauno et al. (1993) analyzes the effects of shock absorbing heel inserts on soreness in the lower extremity and back in 91 international referees in a 5-day tournament in Denmark. In the control within a range of 16 and 93% of referees showed soreness while the prevalence was lower in intervention group. In addition six acute injuries were realized, giving an occurrence of injuries in every 1000 referee hours (Mallo et al. 2009). So, it appears justifiable that a referee may at one point suffer from injuries or physical problems in a game in her or his career. The literature presents various themes discussed below Psychology and Referee Injury In contrary to external factors, primary referee-related risk factors risk factors in risk assessment are psychological components (Castagna et al. 2003). It had been indicated that these factors not only affects the aggregate performance of a referee, but also his further injury probability. Most of studies in relation to this were founded on either a stress theory or personality-profile approach. Even though not all studies related to the topic use different methods, the result conformed to the fact that life related events can influence the risk of injury among referees (Bizzini et al. 2011). These life events are vital circumstances in an individual concentration and they include death of parents, child or partner, divorce, residential relocation, personal illness or change in weather were among the major psychological issues that preceded an injury and altered its severity. In this case, social support was indicated to have a buffering effect, but the effect of stress-management strategies were questionable (Bangsbo et al. 2001). Frequency and Nature of Injuries Frequency refers to the number of times injuries occur during a match when there was a risk of an injury (Castagna et al. 2003). From the literature the incidences varies between match play and prior physical fitness, age, sex and in-and outdoor play. Obviously, most injuries appeared to occur to the lower extremities, mainly in knees and ankles (Da Silva et al. 2001) Frequency of injuries indicated in the scientific literature is assessed to be roughly ten to thirty-five per one thousands officiating hours. Most areas indicated as injury prone from the literature was lower extremities. Ligament sprain, muscle strain and contusion were the most predominant injuries noticed. Frequently affected locations therefore include knee, ankle, thigh and groin of the referees (Nigg 1989). Defining an Injury Frequently used definition of an injury involves three important dimensions which include an anatomic location of tissue damage, need for medical treatment and missed matches (D’Hooghe et al 1996). This means a bruise that can be dealt with by ice application but does not lead to any missing a match cannot be classified as an injury because there is no game time missed. Irrespective of this fairly objective definition there is still cases of subjectivity for a given criteria applied. To make it even more complicated, there are also many setbacks and biases in the rational estimation of the extent of severity of an injury (Nigg 1989). In a nutshell these considerations will help in this proposal to understand the kind of injury profile to be expected in elite football referee and thus analyze their effects on them. One unique difference between injuries experienced by players and those of referees is that referees have no physical contact with others on the pitch, and therefore contact injuries are rarely among referees (Bahr et al 2004). Concerning the match physiological demands and responses, there are similarities between referees and players, showing how the referees are subjected to a considerable physical and psychological workload in addition in addition to the intense psychological demands of officiating a match. Non-contacts injuries which include muscle strains for example hamstring or joint sprains e.g. knee, ankle, are also expected among elite referees, but perhaps at a lower rate than among players (Bizzini et al. 2011). As from the literature, the longer duration of the elite referee’s career, his typically non-professional status, and the non-optimal training conditions suggest that overuse injuries may be a problem in football referees. Research Context and Methods This research proposal will use retrospective study. The study population will consists of referees and assistant referees accredited and officiating strictly in English Premier League. The sample to be used in this paper will be 75 elite referees from premier league. Forty five would be field referees while the remaining thirty assistant referees. The data, though is to be collected through other means too, would be collected from the referees and assistant referees who voluntarily would be asked to answer the interview planned. A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire would be administered to the topic of the proposal during the interview. The definition of an injury as provided in the questionnaires will be in line with Union of European Football Association (UEFA) definition, which is stated as a pain or a compliant that resulted in the removal from training, a physical test, or official refereeing. The questionnaire will also give room for identifying the injured referee who sought medical aid and physiotherapy. The most rampant kind of injuries that the question will deal with mostly include contusion, sprain, strain and dislocation. Data collection techniques to be employed are as discussed below Instrument of data collection The research will use a number of data collection intruments namely questionnaires,interviews schedule and observation. i. Questionnaire. Here the research will use self-administered questionnaires which will be distributed to the targeted match officialls and then completed questionnaires were then be picked for annalysis. ii. Interview Schedule. This researcher will designe appropriate questions relating to the topic of discussion and presentes them questions to targeted referees officiating in English Premier Legue and thereof the collected information were then used in annalysi iii Observation The researcher will employe observation method to note whatever is happening throughout various matches in relation to manager reaction upon getting injured durin a match.For instance,the general issuance of cards to players, movement on the pitch among other behaviors. Data Analysis The research will employ both descriptive and statistical approches in processing and analysing the data.Most qualitative data will be obtained from self-admistered questionaires and analyzed using statistical methods. Ethical Issues In conducting a research today it’s is very import to consider whether any of the paper pose harm to any individual or organization under scrutiny (Dawn 1993). This is significantly important when the researches affects or involve interaction with the general public. Even though all researcher are never ill motivated, there a times the probability that the interaction with the participants may offend them in some unintentional way (Zeni 2001). This calls for several ethical consideration which ca be best explained through the harm most likely to be experienced by the participants which includes Social Harm- For example a research investigating how lifestyle impacts consumption may without intention disclose a person’s sexual orientation when that individual wished to keep it confidential (Zeni 2001) Financial harm- Researching on unethical actions in a firm for example may disclose individual employee’s behavior resulting into his firing. Such information can also cause loss of cash to a specific firm (Zeni 2001). Psychological harm- For instance, a researcher working on use of nudity in advertising may show participants’ pictures to the disappointment (Darwn 1993). It is there important to consider whether a real research life with human participants has negative impacts on the general public, individuals or organizations concerned. Timetable My research will be carried out chronological through the one year period with every phase clearly defined as follows. TIME ACTIVITY January – April Writing the research proposal and booking relevant appointments for interviews May- August Data collection September- October Data analysis November Presentation of the research The paper will therefore be executed in four distinct phase starting from research proposal writing to the presentation of the paper as shown in the Gantt chart below Bibliography Andersen TE, Engebretsen L, Bahr R 2004, Rule violations as a cause of injuries in male Norwegian professional football: Are the referees doing their job? Am J Sports Med.; 32:62S-68S. Arnason A, Sigurdsson SB, Gudmundsson A, Holme I, Engebretsen L, Bahr R 2004, Risk factors for injuries in football. Am J Sports Med.; 32(1 Suppl):5S-16S. Bizzini M, Junge A, Bahr R, Dvorak J2009, Injuries and musculoskeletal complaints in referees – A complete survey in the top divisions of the Swiss Football league. Clin J Sport Med.; 19:95-100. Bizzini M, Junge A, Bahr R, Dvorak J 2011, Injuries of football referees: A representative survey of Swiss referees officiating at all levels of play. Scand J Med Sci Sports.; 21(1):42-47. Bizzini M, Junge A, Bahr R, Helsen W, Dvorak J 2008, Injuries and musculoskeletal complaints in referees and assistant referees selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup – Retrospective and Prospective Survey. Brit J Sports Med. ;43(7):490-498. Castagna C, Abr G, D S 2005, Competitive-level differences in yo-yo intermittent recovery and twelve minute run test performance in soccer referees. J Strength Cond Res.; 19: 805–809. Castagna C, AG 2003, Intermatch variation of match activity in elite Italian soccer referees. J Strength Cond Res.; 17:388–392. Cheney, D1993, Ethical Issues in Research. Frederick, Md.: University Pub. Group Eissmann HJ, D’Hooghe M 1996, Sports medical examinations. In: The 23rd Man: Sport Medical Advice for Football Referees. Leipzig: Gersöne-Druk; 7-19. Ekstrand J, N B 1989, Surface-related injuries in soccer. Sports Med. ; 8:56-62. Krustrup P, Bangsbo J 2001, Physiological demands of top-class soccer refereeing in relation to physical capacity: Effect of intense intermittent exercise training. J Sports Sci; 19:881-891. Mallo J, N. E, Aranda JM, Helsen WF 2009, Activity profile of top-class association football referees in relation to fitness-test performance and match standard. J Sports Sci.; 27 (1) Paes MR, Fernandez R, Da Silva AI 2011, Injuries to football (soccer) referees during matches, training and physical tests. Int Sport Med J.; 12(2):74-84. Paes MR, Fernandez R, Da Silva AI 2011, Injuries to football (soccer) referees during matches, training and physical tests. Int Sport Med J.; 12(2):74-84. Zeni, J 2001, Ethical Issue in Practitioner Research. New York: Teachers College Press Read More