Dependence of objectivity in basketball game officiating on the number of referees

Abstract

The aim was to evaluate the level of objectivity of basketball game officiating and find out, if there is a significant difference in dependence on the number of referees. The core of the study was to verify the assumption that three-person officiating (3PO) brings higher objectivity in basketball game officiating, compared to two-person officiating (2PO). The problem was solved by empirical, descriptive and causal research with quantitative and qualitative analysis. 60 selected games (30 2PO and 30 3PO) of the top Czech Basketball Federation (CBF) competition were evaluated. The level of objectivity was evaluated by means of these indicators: number of foul calls, number of referees' mistakes, index of mistakes, and number of offball fouls. The statistical significance of the difference was evaluated in Chi-square test (χ 2 , α .05). Qualitative analysis was based on the minimum required criteria according to expert opinions of top league CBF referees (n = 26). The significant difference in the number of foul calls was not confirmed. The results showed significant difference in decrease of number of referees' mistakes and index of mistakes and in increase of number of off-ball fouls. The findings support the idea of 3PO system to be efficient.

Teamwork and Decision Making among Basketball Referees: The 3PO Principle, Refereeing Level, and Experience

“…Previous studies on basketball officiating found that employing the 3PO principle was better than employing the previous two-person officiating (2PO) principle in terms of the quality of referees' decisions ( Hrusa and Hrusova, 2021 ). However, those earlier studies did not examine basketball referees' DM accuracy with reference to the designated position of each active referee according to the 3PO principle.…”

“…For educational purposes, Pecev et al (2016) applied neural network techniques to simulate the visual field and identify the optimal relative positioning for each of the three referees in various game situations. Finally, Hrusa and Hrusova (2021) used expert observers to assess the accuracy of referees in court decisions. Comparing between 30 games that were officiated by two referees and 30 games that were attended by three referees (all from the same league), those authors concluded that the average number of officiating mistakes decreased significantly with the transition from a two- to a three-referee system.…”