referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

is a person of authority in a number of sports games. Specific sports referees include: *

Referee (American football) In gridiron football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. During professional and most college football games, seven officials operate on the field. Since 2015, Division I ...

Referee (association football) In association football, the referee is the person responsible for interpreting and enforcing the Laws of the Game during a match. The referee is the final decision-making authority on all facts connected with play, and is the match official ...

Referee (basketball) In basketball, an official (usually called a referee) enforces the rules and maintains order in the game. The title of official also applies to the scorers and timekeepers, as well as other personnel that have an active task in maintaining the g ...

Referee (boxing) The referee in boxing is the individual charged with enforcing the rules of that sport during a match. The role of the referee The referee has the following roles: *Gives instructions to both boxers before the fight *Determines when to start or ...

* Referee (futsal) *

Referee (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an official is a person who has some responsibility for enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. There are two categories of officials, on-ice officials, who are the referees and linesmen that enforce the rules du ...

Referee (professional wrestling) In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. The referee's purpose is similar to that of referees in combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts, that is, as an arbiter of the rul ...

Referee (rugby league) Rugby league match officials are responsible for fairly enforcing the '' Laws of the Game'' from a neutral point of view during a match of rugby league football and imposing penalties for deliberate breaches of these Laws. The most senior match of ...

* Referee (rugby union) * Referee (tennis) *

Umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in other sports A referee may also be: * One who engages in

scholarly peer review Scholarly peer review or academic peer review (also known as refereeing) is the process of having a draft version of a researcher's methods and findings reviewed (usually anonymously) by experts (or "peers") in the same field. Peer review is w ...

* One who provides a

reference Reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' ...

* In law, a

special referee In law, a special referee acts as a judge on matters of fact only. Explanation In many instances, the interpretation of the specific statutes or case law relevant to a dispute is absolutely clear. The uncertainty between the parties lies in the ...

, a judge who acts on matters of fact only * A

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

for a role-playing game Referee or The Referee may also refer to: * ''Referee'' (Queoff), a public sculpture by Tom Queoff in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US * ''The Referee'' (newspaper), published in Sydney, Australia from 1886 to 1939 * ''The Referee'' (1922 film), an American silent sports drama film * ''The Referee'' (2010 film), a Swedish documentary * ''

Sunday Referee The ''Sunday Referee'' was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom, founded in 1877 as ''The Referee'', primarily covering sports news. In the 1930s, considerable money was invested in an attempt to compete with the leading Sunday newspapers, an ...

'', a British newspaper founded as ''The Referee'' * ''Referee'', a magazine on sports officiating published in Wisconsin, U.S.

See also