VIDEO: Laziest Referee of all times!

Being a referee isn't always easy, but you need to show some commitment towards the game and the role a referee has in football. Here an example of the most likely laziest referee in the world from Morocco.

A. Rowan to officiate in India vs Palestine friendly!

The All India Football Federation has selected Services referee Armughan Rowan to officiate in the international friendly between India and Palestine on Wednesday, February 6 at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi, Kerala.

Armughan Rowan would be assisted by Shaji Kurian from Kerala and Delhi's Mohammed Kamil on the touch lines, while M.B. Santosh Kumar of Kerala would be the fourth official for the match.

Delhi's J. Ravishankar has been named as the Match Commissioner for the game.

VIDEO: Referee unintentionally fouls Player

Referees are there to detect fouls, but sometimes they themselves get involved in situations. Take this friendly match between Russian side FC Zenit St. Petersburg and Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk, where the referee slips and slides into a Zenit player though it isn't clear from the footage if there is any contact or not.

I-League: Odafe suspension extended to three matches

The All India Football Federation's Disciplinary Committee comprising of N.A. Khan (Chairman), Rakesh Bakshi, Uma Prasad Mukherjee, Premashis Chowdhury and D.S. Sivaswamy, met at the Football House earlier today.

The AIFF Disciplinary Committee reviewed all the documents, the video footage of the I-League match between East Bengal Club and Mohun Bagan AC (played on December 9, 2012) and interrogated Odafe Onyeka Okolie who was present in the hearing.

After taking into consideration an unconditional apology from Mr. Okolie, the Committee imposed an additional one-match ban in the ongoing I-League 2012/13 and also imposed a fine of Rs. 150,000 (1,5 lakhs) on the Mohun Bagan player.

The Committee has directed that Mr. Okolie be allowed to play again in the I-League only after paying the necessary fine.

AIFF signs professional contract with Indian FIFA referees

Indian FIFA Referees Pratap Singh, C.R. Srikrishna and M.B. Santosh Kumar signed a professional contract, the first of its kind in India with the All India Football Federation at Football House, the AIFF Headquarters yesterday.

This is the first time any referee has been brought under a contract system in India. The event took place as the two-day Match Commissioner and Referee Assessor Education Course ended at the AIFF Headquarters. AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das signed the contract along with the three referees.

Head of Referees Department Goutam Kar, who conducted the seminar, spoke about the significance of the matter. “It is an epoch making day for referees in India. This is a seven month contract which the three referees are being signed. They will get their monthly salaries and all other expenses except match fee will be taken care of by AIFF," he informed.

"The contract will run from October to May on a trial basis. After assessing its pros and cons we will extend it," Goutam Kar added.

FIFA referee Pratap Singh said, "I feel honoured to be a part of this professional system. It means we have to put in that extra bit on match days and do our job more prudently and with care. We are thankful to AIFF for choosing us."

Santosh Kumar added it's a dream come true. "We have got the boost to give our best and improve ourselves. We have been trusted with added responsibility and we are ready to grateful to AIFF."

C.R. Srikrishna maintained, "Our responsibility has increased. We cannot let AIFF down. I want to thank the Federation for thinking us worthy of the contract."

FIFA Course for Elite Referees kicks-off in Madurai

A FIFA/Member Association Course for India's Elite Referees kicked-off in Madurai on yesterday. The course aims to train the top Indian referees and update them with the latest methodology for value enhancement.

25 I-League Referees, along with five Women Referees, four Technical Instructors and three Fitness Instructors are attending the Course. The participants will undergo the five-day event through classroom and ground exercises.

Subkhiddin Mohammed Salleh, FIFA Instructor from Malaysia who was also a Match Official match in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and Ganesan, a FIFA Fitness Instructor from Singapore, are the Course Instructors.

Chief Guest Seeni Mohaideen, the president of the Tamilnadu FA, declared the course open in presence of FIFA Refereeing Development Officer M. Muhiseen Ariff.

Mr. Muhiseen praised the development undertaken by the All India Football Federation for the development of referees in the country. The younger lot of referees and instructors are being groomed in the right manner, he felt.

Surely this is a positive step to improve the quality of refereeing in India, which does come in for criticism due to mistakes or sometimes even lack of knowing the rules of the game.

AIFF to offer professional contracts to top Referees

In a positive move the All India Football Federation has decided to kick-off a Professional Refereeing Project. The decision was taken in the recently held Referee's Committee meeting in Jamshedpur, which was presided over by the AIFF's Senior Vice-President Subrata Dutta.

The refereeing in the I-League has been often criticised by the clubs as being not up to par, now with top Indian referees set to get professional contracts hopefully their performance levels will also improve as they also get specialised training.

The AIFF has decided to employ professional referees under its payroll and offer a professional contract to three referees in the Referees department over the duration of the I-League. The AIFF believes the initiative will lay the foundation for professionalisation of refereeing as a career in India.

Meanwhile the AIFF has named Tamil Nadu's C.R. Srikrishna as the Best Referee of the 2011/12 season. The Committee came to this decision after analysing the performance of the referees in the last edition of the I-League and other tournaments. Pratap Singh, M.B. Santosh Kumar, Ajit Meetei and A. Rowan were also in contention besides the winner C.R. Srikrishna for the Best Referees Award.

Delhi's Mohammed Kamil was adjudged the Best Assistant Referee of the last season. Along with Kamil, A.R. Sasikumar, Khamba Singh, Shaji Kurian and Ratheesh Kumar were also in contention for the award.

FIFA Futuro III Head of Refeereeing Course ends in New Delhi

The FIFA Futuro III Head of Refereeing Course closing ceremony was held in New Delhi yesterday. Sri Lanka's Muhiseen Ariff, FIFA Refereeing Development Officer - South Asia/Central Region, addressed the gathering and distributed certificates to the 15 participants with A.R. Dev, AIFF Referees Committee chairman, and Goutam Kar, AIFF Head of Referees, also present.

The course co-ordinator Muhiseen Ariff thanked FIFA for appointing him to conduct the Course. He also had a special word of thanks for AIFF president Praful Patel and General Secretary Kushal Das.

"After FIFA introduced the implementation of Regulation for Referees structure, 74% of the Member Associations have implemented the same. It only speaks about its success," Ariff said in his address.

The RDO emphasised "the knowledge gained in the Course needs to be implemented among the State Associations for the development of referees." He stressed, "it's the responsibility of all the participants to create an awareness of the FIFA regulation which will be monitored for the success of the course."

"The event has been organised in the best of spirit and every minute detail have been taken care of," he declared. "A referee's life is all about sacrifice. Very few realise that we stay away from our families to conduct a thankless job."

Goutam Kar thanked Ariff in being supportive and positive all throughout. "I need to thank him. He has been polite and dignified yet knowledgeable at the same time. Without his support, this course couldn't have been a success," Kar maintained, much to the applause of the participants. The participants even gave Ariff a standing ovation.

"I need to thank FIFA profusely for allowing Futuro III to be held exclusive in India. We stay indebted to FIFA," Kar maintained.

This is the first time a Futuro III Course is being held solely for participants in a country in the South Asian region.

Further, he thanked Tresaco Gracia Fernando, Refereeing Development Senior Manager, FIFA Competition Division, for his immense support for development of refereeing in India and Asia as a whole.

A.R. Dev thanked FIFA for their support declaring, "India stay eager to hold another such event anytime in the near future."

VIDEO: Argentinian Referee has to flee

Being a referee is a tough job. If you do your job properly you get no credit, if you do mistakes people point at you.



Here is now something unbelievable which I have seen happening in Argentina where a referee in an amateur game is charged, hit and chased by a team and their officials.



Here is the link to the video

I-League: 2 Yellow Cards & you are out

One of the things that I have been observing and seeing again and again in the ongoing fourth edition of the I-League are quick yellow card suspensions as players have to sit out a game after receiving only their second yellow card in the league. This is hampering all teams across the country as key players have to sit out matches once in a while.

And I feel it is a rule which the All India Football Federation and the I-League committee needs to look at after the end of the current I-League. I was telling football friends that I know in the German Bundesliga and across Europe's major leagues players are suspended for a game after picking up their fifth yellow card.

Surely the leagues in Europe are bigger with 18 or 20 teams playing, which mean 34 or 38 league matches a season; but the I-League has grown to 14 teams now which means 26 matches in India's top tier per season. So accordingly the number of cards for a suspension should rise. It could go up to three now and once 16 teams or more are playing in the league it should be either four or five yellow cards for a suspension.

This surely would help the clubs and their coaches, who now often have to replace players and change formations with the league entering a crucial stage. The suspension rules should also be part of overall development and professionalisation.

AIFF Executive decides

The AIFF Executive Committee met today at the AIFF Football House in Dwarka, New Delhi to discuss pending issues and the situation surrounding the future of national team coach Bob Houghton.


The future of Bob Houghton
The Executive Commitee went through the main points of the Technical Commitee report which heavily criticised Bob Houghton. Thereafter the Executive Committee expressed its concern over the performance of the National Team and also expressed its unhappiness regarding the conduct and the derogatory remarks made by Bob Houghton. The Executive committee has unanimously decided to seek legal opinion regarding its course of action.
This has been done as Bob Houghton's contract had been extended until 2013 only last year and if fired the AIFF would have to pay heavy compensation.

Santosh Trophy
The National Championship for Santosh Trophy 2010/11 will be held in April/May 2011 in the state of Assam. The boarding lodging allowance for players have been increased to from Rs 450 to Rs 700 per player. There will be a cash prize of Rs 500,000 (5 lakhs) and Rs 300,000 (3 lakhs) for the champions and Runners-up.
Holding it parallel to the I-League means that top players won't be playing the state tournament this time around.

Federation Cup
The prize money for the 2011 Federation Cup has been enhanced to Rs 1,5 Milion (15 lakhs) for the winners and Rs 1 Million (10 lakhs) for the Runners-up.

SAFF Championship
Defending champions India will be hosting the upcoming edition of the SAFF Cup, which will be held in December 2011 in Orissa. But the question here is if Orissa can and should play hosts to an international football tournament.

Nehru Cup
The bi-annual tournament will not be held this year and will be conducted as part of the AIFF Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2012.

SAFF Women's Championship
India won the first-ever edition of the SAFF Women's Championship held in Cox Bazar, Bangladesh late last year. All members of the Senior Women's Football team and support staff will be given a cash incentive of Rs 50,000. If I am right, a positive first in Indian football!

New AIFF Referees Committee
The new Referees committee has been constituted and the following are its members: Amit Dev (Chairman), K. Shankar, J. Ravi Shankar, Col (Retd) Gautam Kar, Anthony D'Costa, Gulab Chauhan, Pradeep Nag, Inayutalla Khan.

Scottish Referee's to Strike?

Those of us who follow international football will have heard or read about the strike threat from the Scottish referee's. We have seen footballers going on strike, fans coming late into stadiums to protest against their own clubs, but referee's on strike? They are not highly regarded, but lets be honest without referee's and match officials there could be no football. And surely referee's make mistakes, some more and others less, but match officials are a key ingredient of football.

What has happened in Scotland? Like around the world the referee's in Scotland are regularly criticized for their performances, but that has gone to a whole new level in Scotland with clubs not only questioning the quality of referee's in the Scottish Premier League but also their integrity. Such reactions from clubs and managers has led to the referee's saying that their standing has gone down with players and amongst fans alike. Some referee's have received threatening calls, while other even bigger threats. And the biggest culprit amongst the clubs are Scottish giants Celtic Glasgow, who openly have questioned decisions and the integrity of the referee's.

The referee's had to act themselves as their own security was becoming a problem and the Scottish Football Association didn't react in such a way to cover their backs as one would have expected. This has led to the category one officials (highest level of officials in Scotland) holding a vote and unanimously deciding to refuse to officiate over the weekend November 27/28. And such a strike would not only effect the Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Football League, but also the ALBA Challenge Cup final and three Scottish Cup third-round replays.

The Scottish FA has been looking to solve the issue with the Scottish Senior Football Referees' Association , but so far no solution has been found. And now they are scouting for alternatives in trying to bring in foreign referee's to avoid a total washout. Referee's from England, Ireland, Wales, Iceland or Scandinavia could be invited, but foreign referee's have stated in their local media that they support their Scottish colleagues in their fight.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming days in Scottish football...

Congrats Maria Rebello!

My heartiest congratulations to referee Maria Rebello from Curtorim in Goa! Maria on Sunday became the first female referee to officiate at the highest level of AIFF organised men's football competition. She officiated the Delhi vs. Madhya Pradesh group stage match of the 64th Santosh Trophy (National State Championship of India) currently being held in Kolkata.

From what I have been told there wasn't much to say about the refereeing. And no news on the refereeing is always good news. But there was added pressure on Maria as an AFC Refereeing Inspector was at the Howrah Maidan to observe her in match action. If the post match report is positive and she gets through the written/oral tests then Maria could be soon joining the AFC's Women Elite Refereeing panel. A great honour if she achieves this and then maybe she could get a chance to be a match official at next years 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany.

It is already a great achievement for Maria, a former India international footballer, to officiate at the highest level in men's football, when women in football isn't promoted the way it should for the development of women's football in India. But this example once more shows that hard work and dedication even under difficult circumstances pay off.

And in further good news for women referee's Maria's senior Bentla D'Couth from Kerala has become the first Indian woman referee to be selected for the FIFA Futro III Referee's Instructor Course, which will be held in Kathmandu from August 1 to 6.

India needs good quality referee's and it doesn't really matter if they are male or female as long as they are good in their job. It is an area which needs to develop in India as many other different aspects to make the game more professional.

2010 World Cup: Has Asia arrived on the world stage?

Asian football has been making huge strides over the last decade and a half, but on the world stage our football still isn't taken seriously. Actually often we within Asia do not see our football on par with the game in the rest of the world with many Asians rather fans of European and especially South American football. But this could change after the good account that Asian teams gave of themselves at the ongoing 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The pick of the four Asian participants have to be Japan and South Korea, who impressed on their way into the pre-quarterfinals. And both sides had chances to make it into the last eight, but the lack of experience at this level plus some luck denied both East Asian sides a place in the quarterfinals. And for Asian football one quarterfinalist would have been good news. But the question remains, has Asia arrived on the world stage?

As a pleasant surprise came the performances of the Asian referee's. Uzbekistan's Ravshan Irmatov and Yuichi Nishimura from Japan were consistent performers amongst match officials from around the world who had numerous blunders to account for over the duration of the World Cup. But we will forget the name of the Saudi referee, who was heavily criticised for his performances.


Here an overview of the four teams performances.

South Korea

The best of the Asian sides on display. The Koreans were known to be physically fit, able to run for 90 minutes and more, but now with more and more South Koreans playing in Europe they have gained in international experience which is helping them as a team. Also the side was ably led by their captain and superstar Ji-Sung Park, but when it mattered against Argentina and Uruguay they couldn't get past the South American opposition. Still South Korea showed promise and hopefully will return stronger in 2014.


Japan

Coach Okada had said before the World Cup that his sides aim would be the semifinals. Many laughed about it, but after their pre-quarterfinal penalty shootout loss against Paraguay many said the Sons from the Land of the Rising Sun could have achieved more. Also Japan have a new star in Keisuke Honda and the CKSA Moscow player was a treat to watch. Normally an attacking midfielder for the national team he played as a striker and scored some crucial goals like the 1-0s against Cameroon and Denmark. As always Japan was well organised, but if they had someone more creative in midfield or a top striker, then they could have worried bigger opponents.


Australia

Their tournament was over before it had even started. Australia were the first victims of the young, talented Germans in a 4-0 defeat. An unlucky draw against Ghana followed where the Aussies played a long time with 10 men and they were the better side after the break, and in the end a 2-1 win against Serbia which wasn't enough to progress from the group. Some stars might retire now and the Socceroos will have to replace them with younger blood, but if the younger generation is ready will have to be seen.


North Korea

They were the surprise qualifiers from Asia and the lowest ranked nation in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. And the players from the communist state where the unknown quantity in the tournament. They held Brazil in their opening game goalless for 55 minutes and then only lost 2-1, which raised many eyebrows. Many hoped for further surprises but the North Koreans would be trashed 7-0 by Portugal and would then lose 0-3 against Ivory Coast. The World Cup was a great experience for the North Koreans, but it was a tournament too big for them.

2010 World Cup: Referees

It was a topic which I didn't want to touch as being a referee is the toughest job in football. And a job which does not get the credit it deserves, then a football match without a referee is just not possible. But what has now been happening for days at the 2010 FIFA World Cup is a disgrace for football.

It seems not the quality of a team or their own efforts will decide who will win the title at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but decisions rightly or wrongly taken by the men in the middle with the whistle. And some seem to want to take this international stage to show and highlight themselves. As if referee's can leave their own country and get transferred like players.

I would always say a good referee is a referee who doesn't interfere with the match, allows the game to take its own path and intervenes only whenever necessary. We have seen such performances in the World Cup, but often you have referee's who blow the whistle too early and start handing out cards before the game has really started. And we are not only taking about referee's from smaller footballing nations, but also those from Europe who regularly officiate in top level competitions.

Some countries have been lucky with decisions, while others face elimination because of mistakes which destroyed their game.
Ask the USA who had a genuine goal against Slovenia disallowed or Germany and Switzerland who lost players due to cards which could have stayed in the referee's pocket. And then there are the others who benefited from the referee's decisions. I loved New Zealand's performance on Sunday, but Shane Smeltz's goal was offside. In that game I found even worse the decision for Italy's penalty that Danielle de Rossi got. A paper in New Zealand asked if de Rossi had been shot the way he went down.

Then there are teams like Argentina, Brazil and Chile; who are being praised for their performances but no one questions them as crucial goals shouldn't have been given. Argentina's second and third goals against South Korea were both offside. Would the game have ended 4-1 without these goals or could have South Korea gotten a better result.

The worst offence so far is Luis Fabiano's second goal against Ivory Coast. The Brazilian clearly touched the ball twice with his hand, his movement is such that it can only be interpreted as intentional and French referee Stéphane Lannoy afterwards asks him if it was handball and Fabiano says no. Once a referee has the guts to ask a player for his honest opinion as he didn't clearly see a situation and the player fails. So will referee's ask again, I doubt it as they will question the players honesty.
But Stéphane Lannoy didn't have the game under his control as he from the start didn't stop the play acting by the Brazilians, which in the end led to Ivory Coast losing their heads and going for harsh tackles. I don't know what they there thinking, but maybe they thought as the Brazilians would lie on the ground anyway lets have a go at them. Not a good approach at all, but this is provoked by wrong decisions and things not going their way. The Kaka sending off was right, but it should have happened in the earlier instance and a straight red card was the only decision. The referee looked to lenient as it was a star. Here you see how a referee with his line can destroy a good match of football.

Even Chile's goal yesterday against Switzerland was offside. So the Swiss were beaten by the referee more then the Chileans, then both key decisions went against them. Was it necessary for Arturo Vidal to go down like this? Chile deserved to win, but would the match have gone the same way if Switzerland had played with eleven men. A question which Germany also asked itself, though they had chances to equalise in their match against Serbia.

And then Cristiano Ronaldo against Ivory Coast. In the instance he was fouled he receives a yellow card as he clashed with Guy Demel, a clear mistake by the referee but on other occasions he dives to gain advantage. And if the referee had seen these actions properly then Ronaldo wouldn't have ended the game on the pitch. And Ronaldo being the star that he is others seem to want to copy him, the positives and the negatives.

One of the questions that world football governing body FIFA has to answer is why not the best referee's from around the world are in South Africa, but only one referee by nation and divided by a coefficient per confederation. Surely also refereeing should be spread around the world, but at the World Cup only the best should officiate and if there are three, four good referee's from a nation they then should be there..
And what makes things even worse is that FIFA are saying that they are happy with the performances of their referee's. No real mistakes committed. Have I been watching different matches???

This all above also shows that football is big business these days, honesty is something unwanted as long as you are successful and keep on winning. Dangerous signs and terrible role models other follow.