The latest IndianFootball.Com Guest Column Lector Mascarenhas. Lector Mascarenhas is a former Goan state level footballer and he in his write-up titled "Man in Black" looks at the scenario surrounding the referees and their plight.
Read the complete article here >> IndianFootball.Com guest columns: LECTOR MASCARENHAS Men in Black Indian football is making news for all the wrong reasons, once again. Now it's the turn of the referees to come into focus. Not that they were not in news whenever and wherever football is played. Infact, they are picked up for criticism after every match by the coaches of the losing team. One cannot blame the coaches for shifting the blame of the loss on the poor referee but frankly one should not also blame only the referee for the results. To err is human and without the human factor the charm of the game is lost. We must make use of the technology at our disposal but overdoing it can do more harm than good to the game of football. So how about the fourth empire like in the game of cricket? I am sure FIFA must be deliberating about this move but only time will tell whether it will come some day before it is too late. And I don't think that the west requires it much considering the high quality of refereeing and high tolerance and sporting spirit of the football lovers whenever referees err. But this is not the case in India. Poor refereeing is not a stray incident. For a very long time now, we are trying to raise our standard and our aim they say is to qualify for the World Cup. Mind you its not winning the World Cup but just qualifying for it. Should we not actually aim for the Asian Games, instead? We are yet to have a concrete youth development program for our youngsters but are still aiming high. The Goa FA is India's front-runner in youth development program but have no yearly budget for the same. Without the professional Clubs support nothing much can be achieved. As we are talking about improving our football, isn't it sensible to talk about improving refereeing too? I have never come across anybody talking about the difficulties the referees face in today's football. >From where shall we get high quality referees? Like footballers they too must graduate from the lower rungs of their ladder. Goa being the model state for the game of football, quality referees should have come from this state but nothing of this sort has happened. We have produced quality players, quality coaches but no referees. We can take pride about Goan referees doing well elsewhere like Alex Vaz and Melwyn D'Souza but nothing to show here at home. What could be the reason? The reasons could be many but I can pick up two main reasons for youngsters not taking up refereeing. One - referees are paid very poorly and two - they have no security at the grass root level. I am told that in the Goa league the payments for referees are as follows. A Referee is paid Rupees 150/- for the third and second Divisions and Rs 300/- for the first and professional Leagues. Now we all know that like the players the referees too have to spend half a day both traveling and also officiating the match. With this kind of renumerations who would take up the profession of refereeing? Even a plumber who came to my house recently charged me Rs 400/- for a one-hour job. Look at the payment of players in the Goa Professional League and the poor referees on the other side. In a football match the referee runs as much as the players if not more and has a big role to play in decision making yet neglected when it come to payments. Remember the letter M besides Money stands for Motivation, too. Referees require security. You hear referees being assaulted time and again both in the village tournaments and the lower Goa division leagues. It's true that due complaints are filed in the police stations but nobody comes to know about the outcome of the same. And we all know that by the time legal action is taken the poor referee will be visiting the police station more than officiating matches. Prevention is better then cure. We must deal with the organizers of the football match severely, for not protecting the referees. They must be fined and the amount recovered could be given to the victim, as compensation. Our university football players could be targeted for talent hunt in the field of refereeing. Referees need high decision making ability besides knowledge of the game and physical fitness. I am sure if the conditions of the referees are improved more youngsters will take up refereeing thus saving the game from likes of P Bikramjit Singh and the supporters of Fransa-Pax FC who damaged public property. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
