Sources of Stress and Refereeing Experience of Active Kenya Rugby Union Referees

Johnbosco Muamba, Nkatha Muthomi, David Muigai

Abstract


Background: Rugby referees have for a long time volunteered to officiate matches in Kenya yet refereeing as an activity is stressful. Objective: This study used a cross-sectional descriptive research design to investigate the impact of the experience of the active rugby union referees in Kenya on the sources of stress affecting them. Method: A Sources of Officiating Stress Questionnaire (SOSQ) (Voight, 2009) was used to collect data from all referees(n=80) who actively refereed matches during the 2016 / 2017 Kenya Rugby Union season. The independent variable tested in the questionnaire was experience of the referees, whereas the dependent variables were sources of stress. Results: Referees with an experience of between 5 to 10 years encountered stress from most of the sources (Mean= 3.17, SD=0.62) whereas those with an experience of between 10 to 20 years encountered stress from the least of the sources (Mean=2.93, SD=0.60). Findings indicated that there was a significant mean difference in sources of stress across refereeing experience (F-statistic =2.175, p=0.009). Conclusion: It was concluded that all active referees experienced stress from different sources despite their years of experience.

Keywords


Rugby Union, Officiating, Sources of Stress, Performance, Referees, Experience

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijkss.v.9n.2p.22

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