Soccer fans around the world love to question the calls that the referees make during games. One common insult is to say the referee must not be able to see well. A new study says most referees can see just fine. Belgian and British researchers found that the best referees, however, are able to pay attention to the parts of a play where a foul is most likely to happen. These referees can ignore other less-important parts of a play. Inexperienced referees, however, are not as precise, or exact. The study was published in October in the journal “Cognitive Research.” Werner Helsen was a co-author of the study. He is a sports scientist and a professor at Belgium’s University of Leuven. He also helps train officials for FIFA and UEFA, the governing body of European soccer. Helsen said there have been several studies done on soccer players. Researchers have studied how some of the best athletes see the games they play.
