At the current Handball World Cup, it's not just the players who are under a lot of pressure, but also the referees. In this interview, Oldenburg sports scientist Dirk Büsch reveals what characterises a good referee.
QUESTION: Prof Büsch, the German national handball team felt disadvantaged by refereeing decisions at the last two World Championships in 2015 and 2017. How much influence do referees have in handball?
ANSWER: Handball is a very physical sport, which is why there are sometimes differing opinions on the interpretation of rules. That's why you need referees, they are an important factor in the game. But a good referee will hardly be noticed. The teams themselves are primarily responsible for the outcome of the game.
QUESTION: So where do discussions about poor refereeing come from?
ANSWER: There is a principle behind this that is known in sports psychology as external causal attribution: if you lose, you blame the referee. If you win, it's down to your own good performance. Overall, you can assume that the referees act as objectively as possible.
QUESTION: How is that ensured?
ANSWER: There is a high level of quality control within the system. The referees are trained in courses before the World Cup tournament, they discuss how the "margin of discretion" is interpreted and how they should referee. During the tournament, there are referee observers who constantly monitor the performance of the two-man teams on the pitch. If the observers say: This game should have been whistled differently, then it can happen that a team is no longer used.
QUESTION: What qualities does a good handball referee need?
ANSWER: Basically, similar qualities to those that characterise competitive athletes: For example, good self-control and a high belief in self-efficacy are important - in other words, the expectation of being able to officiate the game with confidence. In addition, they are aware of their influence, but do not want to be in the foreground. They should endeavour to be as neutral as possible.
QUESTION: What is important during the game?
ANSWER: A decisive demeanour is important, as is cooperation between the two referees and communication with the match officials at the timekeeper's table. Referee observers assess, for example, whether the referees have the game under control and whether they penalise fouls consistently and uniformly, whether they have a "line".
QUESTION: What factors put pressure on the referees?
ANSWER: There have not yet been many studies on this in handball. That's why we want to conduct a research project over the next two years to investigate, for example, how physical strain and psychological pressure affect referees' decisions.
QUESTION: Handball matches have become faster and more dynamic in recent years. What does this mean for referees?
ANSWER: Fitness also plays a major role for them. For example, the World Cup referees have to pass a fitness test in order to be admitted to the tournament. However, we don't know to what extent physical exertion influences the referees' decisions, whether they perhaps make more mistakes during the course of the game and with increasing exertion, and whether this depends on the type of foul - whether they recognise technical fouls better under exertion than physical fouls, for example.
QUESTION: How do you want to find out?
ANSWER: Over the next two years, we will be carrying out tests with referees from the various squads of the German Handball Federation, from junior referees to referees working at international level, as part of a joint project between the "Sport and Movement Science" and "Sport and Training" departments. During their training courses, the referees will complete endurance tests. At the same time, we show them videos of real game situations that they have to judge. Depending on their physical condition, they have to make a total of thirty or more decisions while running distances of more than 2000 metres under increasing strain. Initially, we will only simulate the physical strain, but later we want to add psychological stress factors, such as spectator noise.
QUESTION: How strongly do the spectators influence the referees?
ANSWER: There are ambiguous findings on this from other sports, so we now want to investigate it systematically for handball. Handball halls are often veritable cauldrons: at the World Cup in particular, there are nations with very vociferous spectators who create noise with drums and clapboards.
QUESTION: So does the German team have a home advantage at the current World Cup?
ANSWER: I don't think so. At least there doesn't necessarily have to be a positive home game effect. Because the expectation that you have an advantage at home games creates a lot of social pressure. This in turn can lead to a team playing worse than expected. The DHB team now has to endure the discussion about whether the World Cup at home is an advantage or a disadvantage.
QUESTION: At the last home World Cup in 2007, it was apparently not a disadvantage: back then, the German team became world champions.
ANSWER: That's true, but the team started the tournament so badly that hardly anyone expected them to win. But when a team grows together over the course of a tournament and works well, anything can happen.
QUESTION: Who will win the title this year?
ANSWER: The favourites are France and Denmark, but the overall performance density is so high that anyone can beat anyone from the quarter-finals onwards. Of course, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the German team and will be cheering them on from today.
Interview: Ute Kehse
Prof Dr Dirk Büsch is head of the Sports and Training department at the Institute of Sport Science at the University of Oldenburg. After completing his doctorate at Saarland University, he spent several years as co-trainer and training science consultant at THW Kiel in the 1990s. Büsch was Science Coordinator of the German Handball Federation (DHB) until the end of 2018 and has headed the federation's science network since 2019.