ABSTRACT
Since soccer competitions have been broadcast on television, often faulty rulings made by the referee can be irrefutably shown by means of slow motion replay. Spectacular miscalculations by the referee are willingly analysed at full length by the media. However, the many right decisions are all but ignored. In Germany, Heisterkamp (1979) investigated the objectivity of sportswriters about referees' arbitrations and came to the conclusion that 77% of the commentary was spent on negative criticism, 16% was neutral and in only 7% of the cases was the referee praised for his action. It is the aim of this paper to attempt a preliminary analysis of the percentage of correct and incorrect decisions made by top class referees during competition. By analysing video recordings of soccer games, the number of right and wrong decisions made by the referee may be registered. Nevertheless, not all errors are shown on television. That limited number of offences has not been considered in this investigation and it is assumed that the referee made the correct decision.
