TEXT B Long after the 1998 World
Cup was won, disappointed fans were still cursing the disputed refereeing
decisions that denied victory to their team. A researcher was appointed to study
the performance of some top referees. The researcher organized
an experimental tournament involving four youth teams. Each match lasted an
hour, divided into three periods of 20 minutes during which different referees
were in charge. Observers noted down the referees’ errors, of
which there were 61 over the tournament. Converted to a standard match of 90
minutes, each referee made almost 23 mistakes, a remarkably high
number. The researcher then studied the videotapes to analyse
the matches in detail. Surprisingly, he found that errors were more likely when
the referees were close to the incident. When the officials got it right,
they were, on average, 17 meters away from the action. The average distance in
the case of errors was 12 meters. The research shows the optimum distance is
about 20 meters. There also seemed to be an optimum speed.
Correct decisions came when the referees were moving at a speed of about 2
meters per second. The average speed for errors was 4 meters per
second. If FIFA, football’s international ruling body, wants to
improve the standard of refereeing at the next World Cup, it should encourage
referees to keep their eyes on the action from a distance, rather than rushing
to keep up with the ball, the researcher argues. He also says
that FIFA’s insistence that referees should retire at age 45 may be misguided.
If keeping up with the action is not so important, their physical condition is
less critical. The findings of the experiment show that ______.
A．errors are more likely when a referee keeps close to the ball B．the farther the referee is from the incident, the fewer the errors C．the more slowly the referee runs, the more likely will error occur D．errors are less likely when a referee stays in one spot