Grant: Project Grant

In March 2022, a 15-year-old Ontario referee was threatened by an adult in the parking lot following a soccer game that involved him officiating children. This incident is not isolated for youth referees in Canada- 65% of Ontario youth soccer referees report being abused while officiating games. Concerningly, the bulk of this abuse comes from adults. In any other context, this would be called child abuse. In the context of sports, this is referred to as being "part of the game", a tolerated intolerable. But how can the above, and what follows, be part of the game? "On a few occasions, when I coached U8 soccer, often parents would yell swear words from the sidelines, for example "f*** you ref!". Considering it was my first time refereeing and the summer I turned 16, it made me feel very insecure making decisions as a ref or in general facing adults". According to the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO, 2017), more than 70% of new referees in all sports leave the job within 3 years. The main cause for this attrition is abuse. Youth competitive sport is the area of most concern (NASO, 2017; Ontario Soccer2019). The glaring issue with youth competitions being the most abusive environment is that youth referees almost exclusively officiate youth games. This means that far too many Canadian youth are being abused by adults in their workplace. Despite the rampant abuse of referees in sports, we know nothing about the impact of this type of workplace violence on youth. In adults, the evidence supports a link between being abused and poorer mental health. If we look at other areas of abuse directed at youth as a guide on what to expect in this population, the evidence is damning. Being the target of abuse in childhood negatively impacts all aspects of functioning; it has a notable effect on the mental and physical health of youth in the immediate and in the long-term.Our primary aim is to examine the long-term effects of youth referee abuse on health.