ABSTRACT
Presently, soccer matches proceed at a quick tempo, and soccer players are required to move quickly and to cover a wide range on a playing field in the course of a game. Referees, who control such games, are also required to cover a wide range on a playing field while making good judgements. Various time-motion analyses of soccer games have been done (Ohashi and Togari, 1981; Ohta et al., 1969; Reilly and Thomas, 1976; Togari, 1967; Saltin, 1973; Mayhew and Wenger, 1985; Withers et al., 1982) and reports conclude that soccer players travel 8–12km (about 10km on average) during a 90 min competition. However, no data have been collected concerning referees. The purpose of this study was to investigate the movement pattern of referees in soccer games by tracing their movements on a playing field and to obtain data for the consideration of fitness characteristics which are essential to refereeing.
