Unique

It’s not all about cards and penalties. Mario Bizzini PhD at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences (Norges Idrettshøgskole) has blown the whistle on common injuries amongst football referees.

According to Swiss-born Bizzini, his thesis, “Injuries and musculoskeletal complaints in football referees“ is relatively unique.

Although there have been scientific studies about training and match performance have been conducted, knowledge about referees’ injuries and physical problems is limited.

Distance and age-related

By using a combination of questionnaires and phone interviews, Bizzini discovered contact injuries aren’t a problem, but the chances of non-contact ones are about the same as those of an average football player.

His research also revealed that top international referees are over 40, and can cover up to 12km per football game.

“The most common injuries were posterior thigh muscle strains, calf muscle strains, and ankle sprains, while the most frequent locations of complaints were low back, posterior thigh, knee, calf and the Achilles tendon,” he says.

There was no statistical difference between male and female referees, referees and assistant referees, or between referees of different levels.

Measures

As a result of his investigations, Bizzini was able to come with some recommendations.

“Based on these findings, considering the physiological demands and the length of a referee’s career, injury prevention programs should be developed and implemented in the training routine of football referees,” he says.

55 male Swiss elite referees from the 2005/06 season, 123 of the male referee selection for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, 81 from the female referee selection for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007, and a random sample of 489 Swiss referees of all levels of play from the 2005/06 season took part.

The study was funded by the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) in Zürich.