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SPORTS SCIENCE

Matt Weston

The PGMOL has a thorough Sports Science support programme in place for all match officials

The Sports Science support program currently in place for the PGMOL match officials encompasses fitness testing, training prescription and monitoring, education and research into the demands of soccer officiating.   Below is a profile of Matt’s and Simon’s careers to date.

Matt Weston graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with both a BSc and MSc degree in Sports Science. He commenced working as a full-time Sports Scientist in 1998, based at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham providing applied physiological support to a diverse range of international athletes from sports such as table tennis, kayaking, waterskiing, short-track speed skating and soccer. 

In 1998 he also began working with the English Premier and Football League match officials. His initial work predominantly involved fitness testing, interpretation of the results and the subsequent implications for the match officials training regimes. With the inception of full-time, professional referees in England in 2000, he started part-time work with the Premier League as the referees’ Sports Scientist. 
 
Between the period of February 2003 and June 2004 Matt spent time working at the University of Leuven in Belgium working on a FIFA sponsored research project examining the ‘physical and perceptual demands of top-class refereeing’. In July 2004, he commenced full-time duties with the PGMOL as their Sports Scientist. His full-time role now involves match analysis of the referees’ and assistant referees’ movement profiles during Premier League matches, fitness testing, weekly training prescription and monitoring, along with fitness / health education to all the match officials involved within the professional game of football in England.
 
Matt was also the referees’ fitness coach at the FIFA 2003 World Youth Championships in UAE and the FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany.
 
Published Research Papers
 

- Weston, M., Castagna, C., Impellizzeri, F. et al. (2007) Analysis of physical match performance in English Premier League soccer referees with particular reference to first half and player work rates.  Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 10 (6), 390-397

- Helsen, H., Gillis, B. and Weston, M. (2007) Helsen, Gillis and Weston (2006) do not err in questioning the optical error hypothesis as the only major account for explaining decision-making errors. Journal of Sports Sciences, 25 (9), 991-994

- MacMahon, C., Helsen, W., Weston, M. (2007) Decision-making Skills and Deliberate Practice in Elite Association Football Referees. Journal of Sports Sciences, 25 (1), 65-78.

- Weston, M., Bird, S., Helsen, W. et al. (2006) The effect of match standard and referee experience upon the objective and subjective match workload of English Premier League referees.  Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 9, 256-262.

- Gillis, B., Helsen, W., Weston, M. et al. (2006) Interpretation and Application of the Laws of the Game in Football Incidents Leading to Player Injuries. International Journal of Sports Psychology, 37, 121-138.

- Helsen, W, Gillis, B. and Weston, M (2006) Errors in judging ‘off-side’ in association football: Test of the optical error versus the perceptual flash-lag hypothesis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 24 (5), 521-528.

- Castagna, C., Abt, G., D’Ottavio, S. et al. (2005) Age related effects on fitness performance in elite-level soccer referees. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19 (4), 785-790

- Weston, M., Helsen, W., MacMahon, C. et al. (2004) The impact of specific high-intensity training sessions on football referees' fitness levels. American Journal of Sports Medicine 32, S54-S61.

- Contributor to FIFA Football Medicine Manual, 2005. 

Simon Breivik

Simon Breivik completed his studies in 2001, having gained an HND, a BSc and an MSc in Sports Science. He was employed by the Human Performance Centre at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in 2001 as a full-time sports scientist. His main role at Lilleshall was to provide physiological support to the British Gymnastics squads. This involved setting training programmes and assessing fitness levels at national and international training camps.   Simon’s responsibilities at Lilleshall also included administering fitness tests for Football League referees and assistant referees on behalf of the PGMOL and assessing the fitness levels of professional footballers, athletes and motorsport professionals, as well as writing sport-specific training programmes.

In early 2006, Simon was employed by the PGMOL for whom he now works full-time as a sports scientist. His duties include writing training programmes, monitoring match official’s heart rate data, assessing their fitness levels and using ProZone to analyse their physical match performances.  

Published Research Papers 

- Wilkinson, I., Mitchel, N., Breivik, S. et al. (2006) Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Cerebral White Matter in Competitive Sportsmen. Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, volume 16: 63-67.

- British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES): Physiology Testing Guidelines(2007): Chapter 28 & 33.

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