Examination of Football Referees' Attitudes Towards Video Assistant Referee System (VAR) by Q Method

Abstract

The referees play a crucial role by bearing tremendous responsibility in football. Referees not only manage the football match, but they are also the people who are psychologically affected by the atmosphere of the match and are held responsible for any mistake. This responsibility for the referees seems to have eased somewhat with the development of technology.Yet, unless an evaluation is made from the point of the referees, this situation will remain a mystery. This study aims to evaluate the attitudes of football referees towards the VAR system with the Q method. The methodological model of the study was the Q method, which includes qualitative and quantitative research methods. 25 referees included in the study with the snowball sampling method constitute the study group. The study data were analyzed using the PQMethod 2.35 program, which was developed for Q method studies. The principal component analysis method was used in the analysis of the data. After the analyzes made in the Q method, the data were divided into factors. As a result of principal component analysis and hand rotation afterward, it was seen that the opinions of the participants were gathered under two factors. The questions that the participants gathered under two different factors got higher scores were indicated by their Z scores. The reasons behind it were examined by interviewing the scores obtained from the quantitative data regarding the statements that the participants agreed and did not agree with. As a result, while there is a decrease in the sense of confidence in the referees' VAR system, in themselves and the profession, it is among the results obtained from the opinions that the elimination of injustice is a practice that allows the deserving to win.