ABSTRACT
Sports officiating has been recognised as a potentially stressful activity (Conti and McClintock, 1983; Ouinn et al., 1986). Officials are in a highly evaluative position in which their integrity is often questioned. Reports of verbal, and instances of physical abuse of soccer officials are on the increase according to the Director of The Ontario Referee Development Programme (Agnew, J. personal communication 1986). Numerous psycho-social stressors have been identified in the occupational stress literature (Cooper and Marshall, 1976). These appear to be associated with various psychological, behavioural, and physiological stress reactions.
