Is income level a relevant trigger to decide starting refereeing?

Abstract

There is an open debate about the motivation of football referees to start and progress in their careers. Identifying altruistic and self-servicing factors is critical for the federations to establish the most effective policies to enlarge the referee’s career and minimise turnover. In this article, we analyse how the willingness to become a referee is determined by the average income level in the referee’s neighbourhood. More specifically, our alternate hypothesis is that the number of referees per district is affected by the average income level in that postcode. Sequential linear regressions generated six models using data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) and the Real Federación de Fútbol de Madrid (RFFM). The best-fit outcome shows that the number of referees is partly determined by the income level in their postcode at the beginning of the referee’s career, although the overall fit of the model decreases for experienced referees.