25 Factors influencing the mental health of sports match officials: The potential impact of abuse and a destabilised support system from a global context

The mental health of sport match officials is an under researched subject area. Sports match officials are routinely exposed and subjected to different forms of abuse. This abuse can be broadly physical or verbal in nature, is performed by players, coaches/mangers or spectators, differs in severity between sports, and is a contributory factor to the discontinuation of sports match officials. Currently, there is very little research related to the consequences of this abuse, the impact upon the individual match official and the long-term effect that this abuse might have. Therefore, this chapter considers the impact of abuse upon sports match officials, and the bearing that abuse can have on these individuals, including the negative implications for their mental health. The chapter also considers other contributory factors influencing the mental health of sports match officials, the impact of these factors and what this means for match officials. The chapter culminating with the presentation of a conceptual model detailing the factors influencing the mental health of match officials.