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RESEARCH PRODUCT

French football referees: an exploratory study of the conditions of access and employment for referees in terms of level and gender

subject

description

This essay attempts to explore the conditions of access and employment for football referees in France in terms of gender and refereeing level, based on processing 148 questionnaires. It shows that the social stratum from which the ‘body’ of referees is recruited appears to be higher for correspondingly higher levels of refereeing, and also seems to be clustered around individuals who have had a family sports background (even involving refereeing) and experience in playing football, while the conditions of access for women are less socially selective and less discriminatory in terms of experience in playing football. It also shows that, in terms of a level of education that increases in direct relation to the level of refereeing, referees carry out their activities alongside professional management roles, which are most often at a lower level than that at which they officiate as referees.