Which Refereeing Job is Toughest?

[Alatriste]

Soccer. The field is much bigger, and with just one kick the ball can travel from one corner to the opposite one. Refereeing a soccer match is extremely demanding, quite more than playing it, and referees have to be true athletes.

[Norgy]

The pace of hockey and basketball would make me wary of refereeing.
But that's just no lungs talking.

[Josquius]

Football.
As the old saying goes rugby is a game for thugs played by gentlemen, football is a game for gentlemen played by thugs.
So much flack gets thrown around and the media spotlight is very bright. Also since one or two goals make a big difference any wrong decisions really make a much bigger difference than in other games.

[Brazen]

Real football. Death threats from fans. Especially if you're German and seem to be favouring England's opposition.

[Grey Fox]

From now on, I think it would be best that the Euros when referring to soccer, either use Soccer or the official name of Association Football.

[Berkut]

I have another good friend who is a soccer official, and he says it really isn't all that hard to officiate compared to baseball.

Pretty simple rules, pretty straightforward implementation, and generally it isn't that hard to tell what is going on.

You guys are confusing the impact of the game at the highest levels with how hard it is to officiate the rules and players. You aren't really evaluating the difficulty of officiating as much as your are talking about your opinion about how important your favorite sport is compared to others.

The consequences of a mistake are not relevant to how hard it is to officiate the game, unless you suck as an official so bad you are spending your brain cycles worrying about how a call will look.

[Valmy]

As a fan I can usually make the calls myself if I am watching it on TV for most sports (OMG!  Offsides!  Hey that was a strike!  Um...holding that one is coming back...) but with Basketball I can only very rarely spot the fouls or predict what the call is going to be.  If it is that hard to see the calls as a fan at a distance I can only imagine what a nightmare officiating on the floor can be.

[Brazen]

From now on, I think it would be best that the Euros when referring to soccer, either use Soccer or the official name of Association Football.

No. We invented it so we can call it what we like. Stop calling a game where you hardly use your feet football, foo'.

[Valmy]

No. We invented it so we can call it what we like. Stop calling a game where you hardly use your feet football, foo'.

Right you showed us the game and said it was called soccer.  Then later on we discovered you decided to call it football instead.  Limey bastards.

[Neil]

No. We invented it so we can call it what we like. Stop calling a game where you hardly use your feet football, foo'.

Right you showed us the game and said it was called soccer.  Then later on we discovered you decided to call it football instead.  Limey bastards.

Perfidious Albion. 

[Ed Anger]

Yi is owed one (1) kick in the nuts for using the term "yankball".

[Syt]

As a fan I can usually make the calls myself if I am watching it on TV for most sports (OMG!  Offsides!  Hey that was a strike!  Um...holding that one is coming back...) but with Basketball I can only very rarely spot the fouls or predict what the call is going to be.  If it is that hard to see the calls as a fan at a distance I can only imagine what a nightmare officiating on the floor can be.

On tv you have a much better overview of the whole field, though, while the ref and his assistants on the pitch might have their view obstructed by other players, seeing it from a "bad" angle etc. I assume it's easier in basketball with a smaller court and fewer players.

[Martinus]

I have avoided this thread for some time, but seeing so many responses, I thought that, surely, this must be some pun in the thread title and the thread is actually about something else than it says (and something interesting).

I was wrong.

[Valmy]

I have avoided this thread for some time, but seeing so many responses, I thought that, surely, this must be some pun in the thread title and the thread is actually about something else than it says (and something interesting).

I was wrong.

Sports are more compelling than gayness Mart.  Sorry.

[Berkut]

As a fan I can usually make the calls myself if I am watching it on TV for most sports (OMG!  Offsides!  Hey that was a strike!  Um...holding that one is coming back...) but with Basketball I can only very rarely spot the fouls or predict what the call is going to be.  If it is that hard to see the calls as a fan at a distance I can only imagine what a nightmare officiating on the floor can be.

On tv you have a much better overview of the whole field, though, while the ref and his assistants on the pitch might have their view obstructed by other players, seeing it from a "bad" angle etc. I assume it's easier in basketball with a smaller court and fewer players.

No, it is a hell of a lot harder with a MUCH smaller court, and a MUCH more congested area, and a lot more "space" where play occurs within that area (plenty of action from the feet to the torso and vertically into the space above the playing surface, and you have to see it all. At the same time)

Getting the right angle is often very hard, and the contact is often very subtle - a bump on a shooters elbow, a quick reach in on a dribbler, the slight hand check as the ball handler drives to the basket...did the offensive player in the trap in the corner with three defenders around him shuffle his pivot foot while the 6 arms try to slap the ball away without hitting his arms?

Soccer is easy, as far as I can tell, compared to either football or basketball.

baseball is an easy sport to officiate...until something weird happens. The rules for crap like passed balls, or balls that hit runners, or the hudnred other bizarre things that can happen are difficult.

Football has very complex rules, that can be tough to sort out as well. Penalties on scrimmage kicks, how penalties are done when there are turnovers, things like that are very hard to get right. But the game itself, mostly, is pretty straightforward to officiate.

Basketball has pretty simple rules, comparatively, that are extremely challenging to administer, and require a lot of judgment and subjectivity.