Abuse of soccer referees in Canada: Associations with anxiety and depression symptoms and demographic factors.

In today’s sports landscape, considerable emphasis is placed on ensuring athlete safety, yet the well-being of sports officials remains largely overlooked. We explored experiences of abuse in a sample of 1,183 soccer referees (66.8% White; 80.8% men, 17.6% women, 1.6% gender diverse) from Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, Canada. Findings revealed widespread abuse: 34.9% of referees reported experiencing physical abuse at any rate, and 94.2% reported experiencing verbal abuse at any rate while officiating. Referees who were subjected to more frequent abuse reported higher symptoms of anxiety and depression. Contrary to hypotheses, neither women nor racialized referees experienced significantly higher rates of abuse compared to men and White referees; in fact, men reported experiencing more physical abuse than women. Although gender did not significantly moderate the relation between physical abuse and mental health outcomes, verbal abuse was positively associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression for both men and women, with a larger effect size for women. Race/ethnicity did not moderate the impact of abuse on mental health symptoms. These findings underscore an urgent need for programs and policies to address the high prevalence of abuse targeted at soccer referees and to improve their safety. Immediate action is necessary to safeguard the mental health and overall well-being of referees at all levels of sport.