Officiating in sport
The people and decisions that keep sport fair — referees, umpires, judges, and the calls and signals they use — what each does and how the idea works across different sports.
Browse officiating
Each entry is cross-linked to the sports it belongs to and the terms around it.
Advantage
In many sports, officials let play continue after a foul when stopping would help the offender, so the fouled team keeps the advantage it has gained.
Foul call
A foul call is an official's ruling that a player broke a rule of contact or conduct, triggering a penalty such as a free kick, free throw or penalty.
Gate Judge
An official posted beside an alpine race course who watches an assigned group of gates and records whether each racer passed them correctly.
Judge
A judge is an official who scores performance in judged sports, awarding marks for execution and difficulty rather than counting goals or timing a race.
Line Judge
A boundary-line official who calls whether the ball or player is in or out and flags foot faults, working under the head referee across many sports.
Out-of-Bounds Call
An official's ruling that the ball or a player in possession has left the legal playing area, stopping play and handing a restart or possession to the opponent.
Penalty Signal
A standardized hand or flag signal an official uses to announce a foul, penalty, or restart so players, teammates, and spectators can read the call.
Referee
The primary on-field official who enforces the rules, controls play, penalises fouls, awards restarts, and blows the whistle to start and stop a match.
Scorekeeper
The official who keeps the authoritative record of a contest — score, fouls, and statistics — usually seated at a scorer's table beside the timekeeper.
Self-Officiating
The convention, central to golf and common in other sports, that players apply the rules to themselves and call their own penalties.
Start and Stop Signals
The whistle, gun, bell or hooter an official uses to begin and end play or a race, plus the rules that keep starts clean and penalise false starts.
Timekeeper
The timekeeper is the official who runs a contest's clock — starting and stopping time, timing rounds, races and periods, and signalling when time expires.
Umpire
A match official who rules on lines, serves and dismissals in racket, bat-and-ball and net sports such as tennis, cricket and baseball — and, in racket sports, also keeps the running score.
Video Review
Video review lets officials re-examine footage of a contested moment to confirm or overturn a close call — a goal, a line, a foul — an aid used across many sports.
Find a sport and put it into practice
Pick a sport, read the guide and take the first step — it's free to explore.