The President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has commented on the refereeing quality in the top Indian leagues over the years. Kalyan Chaubey feels that the refereeing quality has been below par in some of the leagues like the ISL and the I-League. Speaking about the same, Goutam Kar, the former AIFF head of the referees, feels that it would hurt the morale of the referees to a huge extent.
“It will hurt the morale of referees to some extent,” says Goutam. He adds that he cannot recall such a precedent in the last 50 years of football. Kar, having experience as a former referee himself and having been a match commissioner at the continental level, has worked in the past with federations like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bangladesh for the improvement of refereeing.
Kar feels that such an accusation is not right from a director of the board. The refereeing director says that he would love to ensure the morale of the match referees remains high no matter what the situation. He adds that referees do not have it easy in today’s world where technology has gone a notch higher than in the past.
“As the director of referees, I would always ensure that the morale of my match officials was high. That is as important as their technical ability, especially in the time of heightened scrutiny due to improved broadcast technology,” Goutam adds. The director of referees is reacting to the press release issued on Monday regarding the quality of refereeing in the top Indian leagues like the I-League and the ISL.
Chaubey claims that there have been rising concerns over the refereeing quality in the top leagues of India. He adds that there have been complaints and counterclaims from the clubs. He adds that the clubs have provided video evidence for the same. Chaubey feels that the outcome of some of the matches has been impacted by the refereeing. Kalyan says that they expect better from referees.
“The season has seen increasing concerns over referee decisions with complaints and counter-claims. Clubs have submitted hard evidence in the form of videos to back their claims. Several games have been impacted due to unfortunate ‘plain-sight errors,’ and admittedly below the acceptability of standards expected from us,” says the AIFF release, quoting the statement of Kalyan Chaubey.
Chaubey acknowledges that the fans must be mature enough to realize the difference between good refereeing and bad refereeing. He adds that the fans have exaggerated some of the decisions at times but feels that the emotions of the fans must be valued. Chaubey feels that the major reason behind the growth of the sport in the last 10 years in the country has been due to the fans who have watched the big leagues.
Chaubey feels that it becomes the responsibility of the boards to ensure quality refereeing that does not hurt the emotions of the fans. Chaubey then goes hard on referees and says that they must not give excuses for 15 per cent errors. Chaubey urges the officials to make better decisions in the upcoming days to avoid the wrath of the fans and the clubs who are already frustrated with the former.
“We can’t hide behind the mask of the ‘acceptable 15% human error norm’… I urge you all to look at these incidents from the emotional investment of the fans and the financial investment of the clubs….” Chaubey says. It is interesting to note that bad refereeing in the top leagues has been a major concern in Indian football for a long time. Many matches in the past have seen such decisions that have not gone well with the fans.
There have been very few matches where the fans have not complained about refereeing, leading them to let out their anger on the same. In one of the matches in the ISL 2022/23, Kerala Blasters decided to forfeit an entire match due to poor refereeing. Against Bengaluru FC, the Blasters conceded a win due to unsatisfactory refereeing in the big match. There has been a huge concern over refereeing in the league since then. The top board has considered the matter now.
