The Toxic Truth Behind Referee Culture
Welcome to issue #02 of Referees Playbook. Each week, I send one short essay that helps sports fans understand the view of a referee.
We interviewed Josh Burt - Current Tournament Director of the Hockey Pro League.
He said something that stuck with me:
“I want umpires to start thinking differently: To focus on what is done well instead of dwelling on the negative.”It’s feels obvious, but totally true.
You get a group of referees together.
Give us a wifi connection and a screen.
We gather around replaying mistakes.
Most often, our colleagues mistakes.
I recently observed a prominent figure in field hockey officiating, publicly scrutinise and pass judgment via social media on a controversial umpire decision.
Pouring petrol on the situation.
Claims of educational intent.
Probably for clicks and engagement.
It’s sad, but it’s what we seem to do.
So how do we turn this around?
It starts with mindset.
We’re trained to spot errors. To enforce rules. To be perfect. But perfection is a myth. If we only talk about what’s wrong, we’re missing half the picture.
Every match, there are dozens of calls that go right - decisions that keep the game flowing, that show instinct and courage.
Why don’t we celebrate those?
I think about my own games, the moments when I nail a clutch decision, or diffuse a heated situation with a calm word. Those moments rarely make the highlight reel.
They aren’t replayed in the lounge or debated online. But they matter. They are the backbone of what make us good at our jobs.
How do you get a group of people so used to critiquing to start building each other up?
It’s not easy. It’s cultural:
We need to start small.
Change the conversation.
Shift from ‘Here’s what went wrong,’
To ‘Here’s what went right.’
Train umpires to reflect on their strengths, not just their weaknesses. And when mistakes happen, frame them as opportunities, not failures.
And let’s be honest, we need to call out the noise. Those social media pile-ons?
They’re not education - they’re clickbait.
Shining a public spotlight on a referees mistake doesn’t make the game better; it drags us down.
Changing a culture doesn’t happen overnight. There are still screens in lounges, still Wi-Fi connections humming with replays.
But Josh’s comment is a reminder from a guy at the top of the global game.
Officiating, like the game itself, is about more than avoiding mistakes - it’s about building something better, together.
One call, one conversation, one story at a time.
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