Exploring Justice, Culture and Football Referees' Communication

Generaly referee communication discernment plays an important part in determining players' reactions to referee's decisions. However little is known about the relative influence of different referee communication styles and practices on players, nor differences because of cultures. Until now referees still rely on even changing curricula for the development of effective communication strategies (Mellick et al. 2005) which can be used in football matches. This article presents the conceptual framework for an international study of players' reactions to different referee communication displays. The purpose is to gauge public acceptance of opinions regarding football and findings of previous studies pertaining to referee communication and ways people perceive fairness. This study was based on the belief that it is important to understand circumstances, which influence perception of fairness in society. Studies have shown that when people perceive fairness in decisions they tend to behave more pro-socially and cooperatively (van den Bos et al. 2005). More importantly, perceptions of fairness are not just based on the decision, but that fairness is also separately influenced by the decision-making process and the way people are treated by the decision-maker (Lind 2001). Based on Leung (2005), Hall and Reed-Hall (1990) and Hofstede (1980) this study predicts that national culture will influence footballers responses to referee communication displays. The article concludes with a discussion on quasi-experimental vignette method used to examine the effect that referee's anger, explanation and age have on players' perceptions of fairness in three countries characterised by distinct cultures-Australia, Malaysia and Spain.