FOOTBALL fans who boo the referee are wasting their time, according to new research.

Psychologists at Northumbria University quizzed refs to find out how they coped with the stresses of the modern game.

They concluded that abuse seems to be water off a duck's back for self-confident refs.

More than 40 officials from the Unibond league filled in a detailed questionnaire.

What most surprised academics was the way in which criticism is shrugged off.

Nick Neave, a psychologist who helped run the project, said: "We thought one of the main stresses was the criticism they routinely experience."

But when asked to score their stress between zero and four, most only put down two or 2.5.

Most referees regarded criticism as being mainly motivated by bias or ignorance about the laws of the game.

Psychologists said refs appeared to have a "very robust set of coping mechanisms" to deal with stress.

Eight out of ten refs thought they were more honest than other officials in their league, three-quarters thought they made better decisions and 73 per cent said they knew the rules better.

The role that psychology might play in preparing top level referees for big games is being discussed at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference today

Pat Partridge, a former World Cup referee, who lives in Cockfield, County Durham, said: "A referee is bait to a certain extent, but you have to be thick-skinned and accept it."

"Referees should never complain when people are having a go at them because they are doing what they want to do."

But Mr Partridge wondered how refs could comment on colleagues when they rarely saw them in action.

Bob Fisher, the presenter of BBC Radio Cleveland's football chatshow Gobstopper, joked: "If abuse from the fans does not cause any stress, we are not trying hard enough."

Keeping cool during a match was demonstrated perfectly last year when a Durham police sergeant officiated at a top Premiership match while on sick leave with stress.

Sergeant Nigel Miller had the support of his doctors when he acted as an assistant referee during a game between Leeds and Manchester United. They said the exercise would be therapeutic.