Dr Tom Webb is an expert in the global management, leadership, operational environment and working practices of sport officials. Dr Webb has published extensively on the subject of sport officials, including two books and over 50 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters and reports. Tom leads the Referee and Sports Official Research Network, based in the Centre for Business in Society (CBiS). 

Since 2016, Tom is involved in projects that have been successfully awarded over £1.7m of funding for research, impact and consultancy as PI or Co-I from a range of sources, including the UEFA Research Fund, European Commission, Quebec Ministry of Education, Canadian Institute of Health Research, The Football Association, Sport Northern Ireland, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada. Tom’s research has been disseminated at a variety of international and national conferences and has published widely in a peer-reviewed journals including European Sport Management Quarterly, Sport Management Review, Journal of Sport Management, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology and the European Journal of Sport Science.

Tom's research also includes an edited book published in August 2024 entitled Managing and Developing Sports Officials: Officiating Excellence, a book published in 2020 entitled Referees, Match Officials and Abuse: Research and Implications for Policy and a book on the subject of elite referees in football entitled, Elite Soccer Referees: Officiating in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A (published in 2017). Tom has worked with a significant number of high-profile sporting organisations from around the world such as UEFA, The Premier League, The English FA, Dutch FA (KNVB), French FA (FFF), Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Rugby Football Union (RFU), Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), European Handball, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and World Netball.

In addition to his research, Tom contributes extensively across national and international media platforms including ESPN, BBC TV, BBC 5 Live, SkySports, TalkSport, ITV, the Times, the Telegraph and the Guardian, amongst other outlets.

Tom's research interests concern the role of match officials in sport. Specifically, Tom founded the Referee and Sports Official Research Network and has been awarded grants and funding from agencies such as UEFA, the Premier League, World Netball and the European Commission.

Alongside football in both the UK and around the world, the focus of Tom's research has considered other sports such as netball, rugby union, rugby league and cricket, all of which have generated very strong national media coverage on topics such as the erosion of values in sport. Tom's research has also resulted in changes to policy, with some of the research conducted on cricket utilised to assist in changing the laws of the game across the world.

Tom's recent research has focused on violence, aggression and abuse towards sports officials, the mental health and well-being of sports officials from a global perspective and the careers, recruitment and retention of sports officials. Tom is involved in a number of internationally funded research projects in these areas.

Most recent project:

Webb, T. (2025). Co-Investigator (managing and delivering the research aspect of the project). Inspiring the next generation of sport officials across Europe (REFS). Erasmus Plus Sport, Large Collaborative Partnership. Funding: £42,249. Total Project Funding:  £340,943.

Project partners:

• European Observatoire of Sport and Employment
• EuroHockey
• Badminton Europe
• Netherlands Olympic Committee
• Sport Malta
• Irish Rugby Football Union
• International Federation for Sports Officials
• Association Francaise Corps Arbitral Multisports

Project overview:

No sport officials means no sport, and there is a need for a constant pipeline of officials to come into the role to support the continuation of sporting competitions in Europe. The REFS project will inspire the next generation of sport officials (referees, umpires etc.) through improving the engagement of children and young people in sport officiating.

The project will aim to improve the image and perception of officiating among children aged 8-13, and enhance recruitment and retention of young people aged 14-20 in officiating roles. The project is the first of its kind in Europe to target children and youth involvement in officiating.

A main focus of the project will be on promoting the positive values of sport. Qualities such as integrity, honesty, trustworthiness and respect are integral to the role of the official and can be developed through enhanced engagement of young people in officiating.

The project will result in more young people in Europe demonstrating the positive values of sport through engagement with officiating, children having an improved image of the role of the official, and more young people wishing to take up, and remain in, officiating roles which are vital to the ongoing success of sport from grassroots to elite level. A sustainability plan Inspiring the next generation of sport officials in Europe