Incidence, Nature, and Pattern of Injuries to Referees in a Premier Football (Soccer) League

Abstract

Background:Despite the crucial role of referees in a soccer match, few researchers have targeted the injury profile of referees in their studies. Understanding the incidence, nature, and pattern of injuries could provide important information for educational and preventative efforts at the international level.Hypothesis:The incidence rate and patterns of acute injuries to official referees of the Iranian Premier Football League during the 2009-2010 season are similar to those reported among referees in short-term international competitions such as FIFA World Cup.Study Design:Prospective cohort study.Methods:Demographic data for 74 referees, including 30 main referees and 44 assistant referees, were collected at the beginning of the season. To record injuries and refereeing time, weekly contact was made by a physician.Results:In total, 102 injuries were reported by referees during the football season. The incidence rates of injuries among referees during training and matches were 4.6 and 19.6 injuries per 1000 hours, respectively. Muscular and tendon injuries were found to be the most common type of injury, and the most common site of injury was the lower leg followed by the hip and groin.Conclusion:The results of this study are consistent with similar prospective studies evaluating injuries to referees over the course of a short-term tournament.Clinical Relevance:These findings provide a base for suggesting possible preventive recommendations in future studies.

Incidence of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Soccer Referees: A Three-Year Study

“…4,5,[10][11][12] The incidences of pain complaints, in matches and training, were higher than other studies, due to the characteristics of their definition. Wilson et al 5 and Kordi et al 11 presented lower rates than this study. Bizzini et al 10 also presented lower rates.…”

“…The severity of the time-loss injuries classified as mild, which took from 1 to 7 days of interruption, prevailed both in matches (51.2%) and in training sessions (56%), which is similar to Wilson et al 5 , in which mild injuries prevailed. However, Kordi et al 11 found that most of the injuries were moderate with interruptions of 8 to 28 days. Bizzini et al 10 mentioned that no referee had any time loss in the 2006 World Cup; they only modified their activities in training.…”

“…If an injury was recorded, the referee was phoned by an investigator within three days. In the study by Kordi et al 11 , the incidence was 19.6/1000 hours, and this disparity can be justified by the data collection technique that was done weekly by two physicians by telephone.…”

“…There was predominance of thigh, triceps, and knee injuries, both in matches and in training, which is similar to other studies. 4,5,10,11 This is probably due to changes of direction, medium and high-intensity runs, leading the posterior muscle chain to undergo constant eccentric loads, and knees and ankles are required in rotational movements. Besides that, Bizzini et al 2 argue that back-and-forth runs, often seen in referees' activities, involve muscle activity per unit of force applied to the ground 10% higher than forward runs, and also produce an additional energy expenditure of 20%, which can create considerable overload in the triceps surae muscle and in the calcaneus tendon.…”

A Perspective From the Middle East on the Topic of Concussion

“…However, the reports that were found were diverse. : from kickboxing and TBI in Qatar and Turkey (Slimani et al, 2017;Tanrivedi et al, 2007), fishing and aerial sport injuries as well as boxing related injuries in Turkey (Aydin, 2019;Cevik et al, 2016;Tanrivedi et al, 2008), to contact football and other team balls in Iran and Israel (Kordi et al, 2013;Kaplan et al, 2013), to new data on E-Biking with resulting serious injuries in Israel and Iran (Gross et al, 2018;Vahdati et al, 2016), rollover crashes as well as injuries related to Taekwondo and Karate in Iran (Anarkooli et al, 2017;Ziaee et al, 2010;Halabchi et al, 2007) and lastly camel jockeying injury in United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Abu-Zidan et al, 2012). Many countries focused on extremity injuries and were keen on detailing those injuries specifically; while data regarding head injury on the other hand was relatively sparse.…”