Edinburgh Napier University

  This commentary paper discusses key considerations for researchers and practitioners to build our understanding of effective sport officials’ recruitment practices. The identification, development and retention of sport officials is a key management agenda for sporting organisations, with low officiating numbers often reported in different sports, worldwide. While there has been a strong (and worthwhile) research focus on understanding attrition factors of officials and their experiences while in the talent development environment, there is limited understanding of how officials are identified and recruited. The recruitment is a crucial period that has implications on developmental trajectories and potential officiating talent that enter the sport system. Greater understanding of officials’ entry to officiating, including their motivations, sampling pools, specialisation age and other early experiences requires more investigation to provide evidence-based recommendations for key officiating stakeholders in the sport industry. To understand officials’ sport entry and initial pathway progression we can draw on concepts from athlete research and potentially adapt them to the realities of officiating communities. This commentary aims to provide context related to the recruitment of sports officials and inform targeted research into effective recruitment strategies and optimal early developmental climates for sports officials.