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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2014

The question of refereeing performance in média narratives: the case of the rugby world cup

Résumé

In team sports, the referee represents the authority figure: he has the power and obligation to achieve judgements, and doing, he shows to players what is possible and imposes it on them (Rix-Lièvre, Boyer, Coutarel, Lièvre, 2014). The authority assigned to the referee is inseparable from concepts of legitimacy and recognition on the part of those who submit to it (Weber, 1968). However, several actors challenge the legitimate authority and the performance of referees. Here, we hypothesise that the media have a negative representation of the authority figure and their performance. Method The study focuses on articles appearing in l’Equipe (daily sports newspaper) and Midi Olympique (weekly newspaper dedicated to rugby) during the past three rugby world cups organised respectively in Australia (10 October to 22 November 2003), France (7 September to 20 October 2007) and New Zealand (9 September to 23 October 2011). We inventoried and sorted all mentions of rugby referees. The mentions were classified in topics in order to analyse the speakers’ social representations and judgements of them. We paired this analysis with an evaluation of the positive, negative or neutral connotation of the terms of judgements expressed by the speaker. Results & Discussion This study shows that the proportion of publications concerned with rugby refereeing and/or referees is quite small. In either media, the journalists hardly ever speak in their own name. Above all, they present the discourses of certain actors (staff, player, directors). A convergence exists in the connotations of the judgments formatted by the journalists and commentators concerning referees: neutral, negative and positive. Even if, the proportion of publication, the figures and the connotations of the terms or judgments formatted by the journalists and commentators in L’Equipe and Midi Olympique varies. Stigmatization and stereotype concerning referees turn around professionalism, experience, decision making, application and interpretation of the rules, in other words in their performance. Also, journalists and commentators both support the idea that the problems and solutions of refereeing are linked. Referees’ performance and legitimacy appears to be shaken by the cult of performance and technological ideology (Habermas, 1973).

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Education
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Dates et versions

hal-01114887 , version 1 (10-02-2015)

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  • HAL Id : hal-01114887 , version 1

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Fatia Terfous, Julie Pironom. The question of refereeing performance in média narratives: the case of the rugby world cup. First International Conference on the Science and Practice of Sports Refereeing, Sep 2014, Clermont-Ferrand, France. ⟨hal-01114887⟩
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