SVT Sport has spoken with the referees in six of our biggest team sports (football, ice hockey, handball, floorball, bandy and basketball).

Everyone says that there is some kind of lack of judgment, or that you see a great risk that it may be on its way to this.

"I am very worried that we will not get enough referees," says, for example, Thore Johansson, chairman of the Swedish Football Referees Association - where, among other things, reports that there is, for example, a large refereeing shortage in several of the football associations in the north.

Just Norrland is a problem area in several sports, reports several that SVT Sport talked to. In the handball and basketball, for example, they are forced to fly referees from southern Sweden, which makes it more expensive for the clubs.

There are several reasons for the lack of judges. But there are, above all, two reasons that are mentioned regularly.

One of them is that it becomes a vicious circle. As there are fewer and fewer referees, the referees who are available to judge will have to judge more matches - which ultimately leads to them because it takes so much time. And it gives rings on the water and can have negative consequences for the players as well.

- In some matches we are forced to have judges who are sentenced to two matches per day, says Joel Hansson, referee manager at the Swedish Ice Hockey Association.

What are the consequences?

- It will be an effort for the referees, who cannot perform optimally in every match.

The other reason, which is mentioned by almost everyone, is that the climate against the judges has hardened. It is often a daily life with complaints, hatred, threats - and in some cases pure violence.

This means that many simply do not cope. Above all, it has made it difficult to get new judges to continue. Many people report that there are often quite a number of newly qualified judges, but that many quit already after one or two years. And this is often because they are not able to continue in the exposed environment, because as a new (and often quite young) one cannot cope with the harsh climate.

- In the past, you had more respect for the black-clad lady or gentleman in the middle, but you don't have that today, says Thore Johansson.

But it works to overcome the lack of judgments, in many ways. In several sports you work with different types of mentorship, so that new judges have some kind of sponsor or board.

And in a couple of football districts, for example Gothenburg where you have been extra exposed to threats and violence against the referees, a system of fair play tables has been introduced. Teams with too high points can then be penalized, in the end with points deductions and even exclusion.

Report: Swedish sport has a lack of judges

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