What’s the difference between a playground basketball
game and the NBA finals? A key distinction is the men
in striped shirts, running up and down the NBA court,
blowing their whistles—the referees. Whatever they
are called—referee, official, umpire, linesman—they
are a vital element of modern sports. Umpires and the
authority vested in them is one critical feature that distinguishes modern sports from traditional and informal sports and games.
History
In the ancient Olympic Games, the event that is closest
to the modern notion of sport, the judge was seen as an
individual under the gods’ direct control. In Imperial
Rome, the “arbiter” was unknown in competitions. In
sport or, more accurately, in games there was, however,
a nonparticipant, a neutral figure who might be called
a “master” rather than a referee or umpire. But there
were no codified rules for the games to govern his decisions. In Asian societies, the situation was quite similar. In China nearly 4,500 years ago, football was controlled by the emperor, while in Imperial Japan, local
contests were judged by the aristocracy, whose decisions were believed to reflect the rules established by
the emperor.
The modern concept of umpiring and the modern
role of the umpire emerged in Florence in the 14th and
15th centuries when Florence football spread so fast
that the Senatus of Pisa issued a statement of rules and,
in 1415, the Mondovi Statement was issued by the
Piedmontese town of Mondov. These rules mark the
start of modern umpiring because they were imposed
by a neutral party, were not based on supernatural or
royal authority, and required the presence of a neutral
person—the umpire—whose word was expected to be
accepted by all competitors.
It was not until the 19th century, however, that rules
and umpiring became firmly established as an element
of organized sport. In the 18th-century British colleges’
“dribbling game” we get the first complete set of rules,
including penalties for fouls. The first written soccer
(association football) rules were codified at Cambridge
in 1846. On 26 October 1863, in London’s Freemason’s
Tavern, the Football Association was founded. Football
was subsequently spread throughout the British Empire, as were its rules, which were followed everywhere
the game was played and enforced on the field by the
neutral referee.
Today, it is impossible to think of any sport without
at least one on-the-field judge. A few sports, such as
Japanese sumo, have only one on-field umpire, while
many others require multiple umpires, usually with
one in overall command and the others providing specialized functions. Many competitions also have offfield officials who rule on various matters such as drug
use, meeting deadlines, using legal equipment, and
wearing appropriate attire. Beyond these on- and offfield officials, official bodies may rule after the fact on
matters that cannot be decided on the field. In addition, technology now influences umpiring and in some
sports is beginning to replace some tasks traditionally
performed by humans. Professional American football
for a few years experimented with television replays to
make decisions about on-field play. Electronic timing
devices are used to identify false starts in sports such
as track and swimming and to identify the winners in
many sports, and the “Cyclops” electronic eye is used to detect serving faults in many major tennis tournaments. Thus, like sport in general, umpiring has become more specialized and scientific.
The Varieties of Umpiring
The following brief survey of umpiring in a few major
sports indicates umpiring’s various forms.
In American football a game is supervised by seven
officials in the National Football League (NFL), four to
seven at the college level.All officiating crews have a referee with general oversight and control of the game; the
referee is assisted by umpires, linesmen, field judges,
back judges, line judges, and side judges. In NFL
matches they communicate with radios. The referee is
the sole authority for the score, and his decisions on
rules and other matters pertaining to the game are final.
All officials have a joint responsibility for calling fouls.
In North American baseball umpires control the
game. One behind home plate calls balls and strikes on
the batter, determines whether a batter has been hit by
a pitch or has interfered with the catcher, or vice versa,
and calls runners safe or out at home plate. He and the
other three umpires, stationed near first, second, and
third base, may call hit balls foul or fair; the other three
call runners safe or out at the first three bases. An umpire may ask for help from his fellows if he was out of
position to see a play. In the playoffs, two extra umpires
are added for the left and right field foul lines.
Basketball referees follow detailed rules based on
founder James Naismith’s five principles. The officials
include two or three referees, two timers, and two
scorekeepers.
In boxing the referee is stationed inside the ring
with the boxers and regulates the bout. In some jurisdictions, the referee scores the contest along with two
judges outside the ring. In most jurisdictions, however,
the referee does not participate in the judging, and
ringside officials score the bout.
All National Hockey League and international
games and many collegiate ice hockey games are under
the control of one referee, two linesmen, and various
off-ice officials. Referees are responsible for calling
penalties and are the final arbiters of whether a goal
has been scored. Linesmen call offsides and icing infractions; they may also stop play in order to inform a
referee that a team has too many players on the ice.
Soccer (association football) is under control of the
referee, who is assisted by two linesmen. The sole
judge is the referee. He can reverse the linesmen’s calls
(especially an offside play). In international games
(and advanced national leagues as well) there is the
so-called fourth man, who sits in the stands to check
the referee’s actions. In Europe there are plans to link
the referee, linesmen, and the fourth man with a microradio system.
Tennis requires the most officials—11 at major
events. These are the chair umpire, net-cord judge, center linespersons (2), service-line persons, baseline
judges (2), and sidelines persons (4). The chair umpire
controls the match, keeps score, and may overrule the
other officials. The 10 other officials have highly specialized functions; the net-cord, center line, and service
line persons function only until a serve is in play.
Umpiring Issues
Umpiring is a profession, and in all major sports umpires undergo careful training and testing, belong to
professional umpiring organizations, and are paid for
their services.Very few umpires are former athletes. In
some sports, such as American baseball, umpiring is a
full-time occupation; in other sports, such as American football, umpiring is a part-time occupation, and
most umpires make their living from other occupations. Once an exclusively male occupation, umpiring
now includes female umpires, although their work
continues to be limited mainly to competitions involving women athletes. There is strong resistance to
women officiating at male competitions, although the
National Basketball Association hired two female officials for the 1997–1998 season with little fanfare. Being
a successful umpire requires a full knowledge of the
rules, good eyesight, quick reflexes, the ability to make
decisions, physical stamina, a steady disposition, and
leadership skills.
From the viewpoint of the athletes whose performance is influenced by the umpiring decisions, it is
equally important that the umpire be fair. Fair does not
necessarily mean that the umpire adheres rigidly to the
rules, but rather that he or she is consistent from event
to event and from player to player. For example, in
American baseball it is well known that different umpires have different “strike zones.” That is, some umpires have a “high” strike zone, others a “low” strike
zone, and still others a “wide” strike zone. This means
that umpires will vary in the pitches they call a strike or
a ball. This variation does not bother players so long as
each umpire is consistent from inning to inning and
game to game. Similarly, in many major sports, umpires may be consistently inconsistent in applying certain rules from player to player. In American basketball, for example, certain star players are rarely called
for certain violations such as traveling, while other players are penalized. Players accept this inconsistency
on the grounds that the star players have “paid their
dues.”
Umpire organizations, which generally represent
umpires in particular sports, are involved in recruiting,
teaching, and training umpires, negotiating their
salary and labor demands, and assisting in the revision
of rules of play. They are also becoming involved in a
new problem facing umpires in some sports—player
abuse in the forms of taunting, physical threats, and
physical assault, and the possibility of legal liability if
an umpire’s decision results in injury. In addition, the
willingness of courts to become involved in decisions
made by umpires or off-field officials raises questions
about the “ultimate” authority of umpires.
—MARCO GALDI