Towards a model for measuring teamwork in Australian Rules Football Officials

Officials in sport are a growing area of research in human factors due to the rapid decision making, expertise and teamwork required to officiate. Influenced by the “Big Five” model of teamwork, this paper presents exploratory research which developed measures for capturing teamwork in Australian Rules Football (AFL) Umpires. Four ratings of AFL umpiring teamwork are presented – Time in Control, Difference in Control, Time in Midzone and Difference in Midzone, which capture coordination, mutual performance monitoring and backup behavior in AFL umpiring teams. The measures are tested through observational analysis of umpiring teams in seven AFL games. The findings demonstrate that the measures achieved inter- and intra-team differences in teamwork; while over the course of games the umpiring teams demonstrated the ability to self-regulate. The suitability of the measures to AFL umpiring, the “Big Five” model, and other teamwork domains are discussed. Finally, extensions of the measures into a model of AFL umpiring teamwork are presented.