Visual Scan Patterns and Decision-Making Skills of Expert Assistant Referees in Offside Situations

Abstract

The offside decision-making process of international and national assistant referees (ARs) was evaluated using video simulations. A Tobii T120 Eye Tracker was used to record the eye movements. Two hypotheses for explaining incorrect decisions were investigated, namely, the flash-lag effect and the shift of gaze. Performance differences between skill levels were also examined. First, results showed a bias toward flag errors for national ARs as expected by the flash-lag effect. Second, ARs fixated the offside line before, during, and after the precise moment the pass was given, implying there was no shift of gaze from the passer to the receiving attacker. Third, no differences were found in scan patterns between international and national ARs. In conclusion, international ARs seem to have found a strategy to better deal with the perceptual illusion resulting from the flash-lag effect. Based on their experience, they have learned to correct for this illusion, and, consequently, show fewer flag errors.

Effect of positioning on the accuracy of decision making of association football top-class referees and assistant referees during competitive matches

“…The limitations of the human visual system to process the information in these complex situations is an additional source of incorrect offside judgments (Baldo, Ranvaud, & Morya, 2002;Belda Maruenda, 2004;Gilis, Helsen, Catteeuw, & Wagemans, 2008;Helsen et al, 2006). For instance, on and off the field training sessions that are in line with the physical and perceptual-cognitive demands of the game should be implemented for top-class assistant referees to reduce the number incorrect offside decisions (Catteeuw, Gilis, Wagemans, & Helsen, 2010c;Catteeuw, Gilis, Jaspers, Wagemans, & Helsen, 2010d;Catteeuw, Helsen, Gilis, Van Roie, & Wagemans, 2009b;Gilis, Helsen, Catteeuw, Van Roie & Wagemans, 2009). Given the high accuracy presented by both referees and assistant referees when judging the play, we suggest that their technical performance should be expressed in the future as a percentage of successful decisions instead of relating it to the number of errors.…”

Detecting single-target changes in multiple object tracking: The case of peripheral vision

“…This applies, for example, in offside decision-making in soccer, where the assistant referee has to monitor the player in ball possession as well as the players at the offside line. In this situation, experts show a gaze strategy in which they anchor their gaze on the offside line while perceiving the player in ball possession peripherally (Catteeuw, Helsen, Gilis, Van Roie, & Wagemans, 2009). Furthermore, Williams and Davids (1998) were able to empirically show that, in a three-versusthree anticipation task in soccer, experts extract a great amount of information regarding players' positions and movements with peripheral vision.…”

Comportamiento visual de árbitros de futbol en situaciones de fuera de juego / Referees' Visual Behaviour During Offside Situations In Football. pp. 325-338

“…Entre las variables de análisis destacan la experiencia de arbitraje (Catteeuw, Helsen, Gilis, & Wagemans, 2009a;Catteeuw et al, 2009b;Catteeuw et al, 2009;Gilis et al, 2009), el rol posicional ocupado en el terreno de juego (Catteeuw et al, 2009a;Catteeuw et al, 2010;Catteeuw, Gilis, Wagemans, & Helsen, 2010a;Helsen et al, 2006), situación de medición , distancia (Button, 2006), ángulo de visionado (Catteeuw et al, 2010a) con que se percibe la acción de fuera de juego por parte del asistente o árbitro, posición del asistente justo en el momento del fuera de juego (Catteeuw et al, 2010;Helsen et al, 2006;Oudejans et al, 2005), e incluso momento temporal del partido en que se produce dicha acción de juego (Button, 2006;Helsen et al, 2006).…”

“…Catteeuw et al (2009b), utilizando tecnología de registro ocular, concluyen también que los árbitros de mayor nivel son más precisos en la detección del fuera de juego en filmaciones grabadas, tienen fijaciones de mayor duración pero fallan cuando fijan por detrás de la línea de fuera de juego. Catteeuw et al (2009) señalan que los asistentes de menor nivel tienen más errores flash-lag y que los de mayor nivel fijan más tiempo delante de la línea de fuera de juego, tanto antes como después del pase; lo que implica que no realizan un movimiento sacádico del pasador al receptor del pase. Belda (2004Belda ( , 2009) afirma que durante el fuera de juego el juez de línea tiene que realizar como mínimo tres movimientos oculares: mirar al jugador que lleva el balón para saber cuándo va a realizar el pase; segundo, localizar el jugador más adelantado que va a recibir la pelota, y tercero, localizar al último defensa (sin contar el portero).…”