The referee’s performance depends to certain unwritten football and sport rules tending to keep to a critical level the perception that the fans and the wider public show toward this activity: These rules are as follows:
- Until the dawn the sport has been a social phenomenon in which there has always been a symbiotic relationship between athletic performance and audience, and it must be remembered that the early events of which we have knowledge back to 5.220 b.c. It means that the public has always sided with the athletes who competed.
- Football is a ritualized version of the hunting, where the players are the hunters, the weapon is the ball, the prey is the gate and the referee is the tribal judge on which no one can interfere when making a decision.
- The decision of the referee in favor of a team is against the interests of the other. Whenever the referee communicate a decision, half of the players, the coach and the audience feel some kind of disappointment. This is, at all levels, the competitive nature of football.
- The reactions of the players at a negative decision for them are significantly influenced by the style of communication that the referee shows in that situation.
- The perception of fairness of the refereeing action by the public and the players is extremely important, and this type of perception is also strongly influenced by the expectations and the role played by the various actors.
- The perception of referee’ s fairness depends on how the players evaluate his skill level, judgment independence and respect for the teams.
