Do home crowds impact referee bias?

Introduction

The impact of home crowds on referee bias in sports has been a topic of considerable interest. This research explores whether the presence of spectators influences referees' decisions, potentially favoring the home team. Various studies have examined this phenomenon across different sports and settings, particularly focusing on football (soccer) and basketball.

Key Insights

Crowd Presence and Referee Bias:
- Studies indicate that the presence of a crowd can lead to referees favoring the home team, particularly in terms of disciplinary actions like yellow cards and fouls .
- The absence of spectators during the COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to study this effect, with findings showing a reduction in home advantage and referee bias when games were played without crowds .
Crowd Noise Influence:
- Crowd noise specifically has been shown to affect referees' decisions, making them more likely to favor the home team. This effect is attributed to the psychological pressure and the salient nature of crowd noise .
Variability Among Referees:
- Individual referees exhibit different levels of home bias, suggesting that personal susceptibility to crowd influence varies. Some referees are more affected by crowd noise and pressure than others .
Impact on Different Sports:
- While most studies focus on football, similar effects have been observed in basketball, where the presence of fans did not significantly alter referees' decisions in crucial moments, contrary to findings in football.

Conclusion

The presence of home crowds generally contributes to referee bias, favoring the home team through increased disciplinary actions against away teams. Crowd noise plays a significant role in this bias, influencing referees' decisions. However, the extent of this bias can vary among individual referees and across different sports. The absence of spectators, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, tends to reduce both home advantage and referee bias, highlighting the substantial impact of crowd presence on officiating in sports.

Do home crowds impact referee bias?

Summary

Consensus Meter

Introduction

Key Insights

Conclusion

Sources and full results

The Effect of the Crowd on Home Bias: Evidence from NBA Games During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Crowd support does not affect referee biases in crucial situations during the NBA regular season, contrary to previous studies.

Home advantage and referee bias in European football

Home team crowd support significantly influences referee decisions, with higher crowd densities leading to increased referee bias in disciplinary sanctions against away teams in European football.

Referee bias contributes to home advantage in English Premiership football

Referee bias contributes to home advantage in English Premiership football, with individual referees showing different levels of home advantage based on subjective decisions and crowd noise.

The sound of silence in association football: Home advantage and referee bias decrease in matches played without spectators

In football matches played without spectators, home advantage and referee bias decrease, highlighting the significant role of crowd noise in match outcomes.

Does the crowd matter in refereeing decisions? Evidence from Spanish soccer

Referees in Spanish soccer are not biased in favor of the home team when awarding free kicks, but tend to book away team players more when there is a large crowd in the stadium.

The influence of spectators on home advantage and referee bias in national teams matches: insights from UEFA Nations League

Spectators play a crucial role in contributing to both home advantage and referee bias in national team matches, with a significant reduction between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 editions of the UEFA Nations League.

The influence of crowd noise and experience upon refereeing decisions in football

Crowd noise significantly influences referees' decisions to favor the home team in football, potentially due to the salient nature of noise, heuristic strategies, and the need to avoid crowd displeasure.

On referee bias, crowd size, and home advantage in the English soccer Premiership

Home advantage in English soccer matches is not influenced by differences in attendance or referee bias, as previously claimed.

The impact of crowd effects on home advantage of football matches during the COVID-19 pandemic—A systematic review

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of crowds reduced home advantage in football matches, leading to worse team performances and potentially fairer referee decisions.

Crowd noise as a cue in referee decisions contributes to the home advantage.

Crowd noise as a cue in referee decisions contributes to the home advantage in sports, as it influences referee decisions and, when audiences are not impartial, leads to a home advantage.

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