ABSTRACT

The possibility of referee bias occurring in football matches has exercised the attention of several scholars. Research is facilitated by the public availability of match-level data, including identity of referee and outcomes within games that fall under the discretion of referees. These include time keeping so referee bias might be revealed in the amounts of discretionary time added on at the end of games for stoppages during the match. Section 21.2 surveys the various studies of stoppage time. Referee bias may be revealed in terms of the awards of yellow and red cards as sanctions for player misdemeanours that fall outside the Laws of the Game. Section 21.3 surveys the literature on yellow and red cards. Section 21.4 summarises the strengths and weaknesses of existing statistical approaches with an emphasis on the capability of investigators to identify causal effects within their analyses. We also make some suggestions as to how future research on referee bias might proceed.