Aim
The aim of this study is to examine the Swedish Football Association’s (SvFF) referee organization at a district level, in relation to power and leadership, representation and organization. The analysis is based on whether there is a lack of referees in Sweden or not. The questions are as follows:
- Is there a lack of referees in Sweden and how does that effect the organization?
- What backgrounds are represented among the respondents of this study?
- What challenges do the districts face related to representation?
- Who do the districts believe should be responsible for how the district are organised?
- How do the districts want to develop their referee organizations in the future?
Method
To answer the questions of this study, semi-structured interviews have been used. The respondents were eight presidents of the districts’ referee committees, recruited through a hand-picked selection. After the interviews were made, the results were transcribed and analysed through power theory (Christensen, Daugaard Jensen & Lindkvist, 2011), organization theory (Slack & Parent, 2006) and representation theory (Wahl, Holgersson, Höök & Linghag, 2011).
Results
The results showed that there is a lack of referees in Swedish football according to the districts. The backgrounds of the respondents are very alike, independent of which district they represent. The representation within the organization is skew. Boys with other ethnic backgrounds than Swedish are over-represented, while girls are under-represented in general. There are challenges connected to how SvFF is organized, today there are uncertainties whether the SvFF or the districts should run the organizational development for referees. The areas of development mentioned are organizational in order to meet the set requirements, and representational to attract more girls to become referees.
Conclusion
With the results in mind, the conclusion drawn is that the organizational form of today is unsatisfactory according to the set goals of the overall sports movement. The factors most dependent was shown to be formalization and the relationships within the organization.