Dr Tom Webb, Associate Professor in the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University, joins Dr Stuart McErlain-Naylor to discuss officiating within sports and the challenges that face referees and other officials across the landscape. 

Throughout the episode, conversations around the role and purpose of a sports official are centred, alongside the perception of sports officials as athletes, embracing the introduction of technologies such as VAR, and debating what constitutes a successful outcome.

Timestamps:
0.00-4.30 - Introduction and background
4.31-7.49 - How does lack of research affect the representation of sports officials
7.50-13.45 - Referee and Sports Official Research Network and further projects
13.46-23.50 - Role and purpose of a sports official
23.51-27.15 - Embracing and working with technology to officiate
27.16-33.00 - Perception of the official as an athlete
33.01-36.02 - What does a successful outcome look like? 
36.03-40.40 - Errors, re-refereeing and the introduction of VAR
40.41-47.47 - Issue of recruitment and retention within sports and solutions
47.48-50.53 - Examples outside of sport to improve experience
50.54-54.04 - Outro and further work