THE EFFECT OF SPECTATORS CROWD NOISE IN FOOTBALL GAMES ON FOOTBALL REFEREES DECISIONS

The general aim of this research is to examine the factors which can be effective upon football referees decisions on the field. 149 referees living in the district of Ankara participated in the study. The referees, in a laboratory setting created by the researcher, were shown 18 different positions which were taken from some European leagues and Turkish Super League. Selected positions were shown to the referees in two different settings, some with crowd noise and some without crowd noise. 59 of the referees officiate in professional leagues and 90 of them are in amateur leagues. The referees were divided into two groups according to their experiences and no information was given to them regarding the football teams. In this study, almost half of the referees (N:74) watched the positions with the crowd noise and the rest of the referees (N:75) watched in silence (the noise was turned off by the researcher). The referees were asked to make assessments, such as A-No Foul, B-Foul but No Yellow card, C-Foul with Yellow card and D- Foul with Red card in 6 seconds after watching each video. Referees could not see the decision of the referee in the video. In this research, it was concluded that there were no significant differences between the decisions taken with or without crowd noise, however after investigating cross tabs, it was reached that referees, who watched the positions with crowd noise, showed more yellow card in 16 positions. As a result, it can be said that when the clues that are of help to make a decision are not so reliable and clear, clues like crowd noise can become important.