Sports refereeing, direct management of sports competitions according to the established rules. The level of sports refereeing depends on the knowledge of the rules for the sport by judges, the ability to apply them, observing the requirements of sports ethics (objectivity, integrity, correctness, etc.), as well as on their experience, experience. Sports refereeing is designed to have an educational impact on the participants of the competition and spectators. (Great Soviet Encyclopedia)

Referee, arbitrator (from Latin arbiter "arbitrator"), referee (English referee, from Latin referō "to attribute", also "to judge") is a person who controls the course of a sports competition, from a neutral point of view. The judge gives a signal to the beginning and end of the competition, controls the time, records the results of the athletes. The judge also ensures that during sports competitions, participating athletes and other persons (coaches, spectators, etc.) comply with the established rules of the competition and, if necessary, impose penalties for violations of the rules. No serious competition can do without refereeing.

Judo competitions cannot exist without a fair and independent judiciary. To ensure his integrity and independence, the judge is obliged to take part in the formation, maintenance of high standards of judicial ethics and personally observe these standards.

A judge in any situation must maintain personal dignity, cherish his honor, avoid anything that could detract from the authority of the judiciary, damage the reputation of the judge and call into question his objectivity and independence in judging competitions in sports.

Judging is a unique phenomenon that takes place in all spheres of human life. The purpose of judging is to perform a regulatory function in a particular area. This function is expressed in influencing social relations by determining the rules of behavior of people in various situations; ensuring public order; determines the framework within which a person can and should act. Refereeing is carried out by a judge - an official who perfectly knows the rules (whether it is the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, or the rules of the game of tennis) and knows how to interpret them.

Looking more broadly, a sociologist can see the judge (or the phenomenon of judging) within every social institution. For example, in the main social institution of the family, parents act as such an expert and rules in relation to the child, they decide what he can do, and what requires punishment. At the Institute of Education, the judge appears before us as a teacher at the exam, who is fluent in the subject, and determines the student's knowledge according to a five-point system. And so on. In general, the role of a judge is unconsciously or consciously performed by someone who tries to preserve a social institution in accordance with its guidelines and norms. Consequently, judging is a social phenomenon, since it is not isolated and is not studied without comparing it with other social phenomena. It is important to remember that the only given that can become the subject of theoretical research is a social institution. Therefore, in order to conduct a study, it is necessary to specify what needs to be studied.

Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, there is a lack of good scientific literature on the sociology of sports, and the problem of determining the category of persons called "sports judges", according to available data, has never been thoroughly studied by the sociology of sports. No prominent scientist thought about referees in sports as a social stratum. Some dissertations are devoted to the study of the psychological characteristics of judges, someone tried to create recommendations for the physical education of judges. All the studies found were initially based on the fact that refereeing is a social institution or phenomenon, but no one asked questions about the peculiarities of the very existence of sports refereeing as a social phenomenon.

In the process of development and institutionalization of sports, there have been many qualitative changes within this phenomenon. Referees in sports appeared a little later than the sport itself - when determining the winner became a serious problem for competitors. Athletes and all people involved in sports realized the impossibility of developing sports in the form in which it existed. It was decided to delegate to a third party certain powers related to the identification of the winner. Having practically no historical information regarding the development of refereeing in sports (again due to the lack of such), one can only guess how this social phenomenon originated. It is only known that each sport in its initial version of existence did not have any extraneous participants, except for competitors. In the process of developing relations within each sport, places were artificially created for the judge - a person who was not interested in the victory of any of the competing parties.

In most sports, the problem of training such specially trained people is solved quite simply: almost any experienced athlete, having undergone minimal special training, can successfully cope with the role of a judge. The situation is more complicated in game, team sports (hockey, football, volleyball, etc.), where the referee, firstly, is in close proximity to what is happening, and, secondly, is in the process of the game itself, so the decision of the referee immediately affects the course of the confrontation.

Currently, it is difficult to imagine a professional sports competition without a large number of categories of persons involved in this process, be they fans, athletes, journalists, coaches. The presence of such a stir further increases the responsibility of the judges for the competition. And, in addition to directly supervising the process of sports competition, the judge performs the duties of a representative of a sports organization that ensures the holding of competitions, the development of its own sport and an increase in the entertainment of the competition. And, as already mentioned, the most difficult is the work of a sports referee in team sports. The referee in team sports is obliged not only to record what is happening in the game, but also to control both the game and the players, which, of course, makes it difficult for the judge to fulfill his main role. Therefore, the greatest interest for science is the study of sports refereeing in team sports, due to the complexity of its manifestation. This is due, among other things, to the specifics of the referee's preparation for work, for example, at a hockey match. Because knowledge of the rules alone is not enough to perform the role of an arbiter in game sports qualitatively, it is also necessary to have good physical and psychological training in order to keep up with the players and not be afraid to stop the heat of passions, and for this you need to spend your own time free from work (from refereeing).

To study sports refereeing, it is necessary to list the signs of a social phenomenon and check whether sports refereeing corresponds to them. Firstly, social phenomena are called objects, processes formed as a result of social activity, and secondly, the social phenomenon is in interaction with other social phenomena.

It is important to note that sports refereeing does not appear by chance, but due to certain needs of the institute of sports, without the satisfaction of which the institute of sports will not be able to exist. Sports refereeing is socially conditioned, which is confirmed by the fact that there is a referee in each sport. The creation of sports refereeing is a conscious activity of people who form such a community as "sports judges".

Sports refereeing is closely related not only to sports, but also to other social phenomena and institutions. For example, with economic: judging, as a type of economic activity, has its own price, and there is a direct relationship between the quality of judging and the level of wages. Also, the institution of politics constantly exerts a great influence on sports refereeing: trying to control the activities of the institute of sports and exalt the achievements of national athletes at the level of international recognition, politics also puts pressure on the work of sports judges, demanding compliance or non-compliance with the rules. The issue of non-compliance with the rules by judges, the issue of corruption translates the interaction of refereeing and politics both into the economic sphere and into the social sphere, where issues of values and morality will be considered.

So, it is approved that sports refereeing is a social phenomenon, as it is a product of social life and conscious activity of people and is in constant interaction with other social phenomena. Accordingly, sports refereeing can be the object of sociological research. And if the phenomenon is defined, then there is already a reason to think about the presence of an appropriate social institution. It is only necessary to understand whether the phenomenon of sports refereeing has developed enough to be considered a social institution.