Profiling to Improve Control: Conflicts and Aggressive Behaviour Regulation by Elite Referees

摘要

Research question. This paper examines the activity of referees. More precisely, it studies the regulation of interactions, game circumstances and aggressive and punishable behaviours by elite handball referees in France. This article deals with the management of individuals on the pitch by the referee. It seeks to answer an important question in the field of the regulation of behaviors and management of individuals: what are the tools and strategies used by referees to regulate behaviour? Research methods. Through a field survey that relied on direct observations of the activity of referees, ethnographic interviews, and immersion, the paper offers a description of the refereeing activity without fragmenting it into different competencies. Results and findings. Taking into account the component of refereeing such as physical performance, perception, decision-making and communication, three profiles have been established and presented to the reader: the consensual referee, the rule-following referee and the perceptive referee. Implications. These profiles help us grasp the regulatory activity developed by the referees: the activity draws on multiple sources in response to the deviance phenomenon which had multiple causes and factors.