Abstract
The central hypothesis of this study is that relationships develop systematically between referees and teams and affect referees’ decisions. Referees’ travel distance to respective stadiums and count of matches refereed for respective teams are used to measure long-term relationships. We find some evidence that the count of referee–team interactions affects disciplinary cautions in lower divisions of the English Football League. This is less evident in higher divisions where, however, distances between referees’ hometowns and stadiums appear to play a role. The influence of distance further increases with the extent of referees’ experience with the respective teams.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 560-591 |
Journal | JOURNAL OF SPORTS ECONOMICS |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 9 Jun 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2017 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- English football
- soccer
- Premier League
- yellow cards
- referee bias
- home advantage
- favoritism
- regulatory capture