The aim of this study was to question emotional consequences of referee mistakes, by the mean of interviews of soccer players. One hundred and three soccer players have taken part in the study. Participants were 15 to 56 years old. They have fulfilled the French version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire and taken part to a twenty to thirty minutes semi-directing-interview. The interview was structured around six situations that reflected the crossing of two variables: the kind of referee's decisions (x3) and the repetition of the situation (x2). It was asked to participants what they felt in each of these situations. The main results showed that the referee's mistakes generated feelings of irritation, anger and the perception of injustice. These feelings occurred all the more as referee's mistakes were repetitive. However, false positive mistakes and false negative mistakes were different in their consequences both on feelings and on behaviors. These differences were questioned as regard to the differences in coercion relations between theses actors.
Referee; soccer; anger; injustice; aggression
