In an effort to streamline and professionalise refereeing, the All India Football Federation, in consultation with the Referees Committee
NEW DELHI: In an effort to streamline and professionalise refereeing, the All India Football Federation, in consultation with the Referees Committee, has decided to segregate match officials into two categories -- referees and linesmen.
Those who will be referees won't be manning the lines while assistant referees will not be blowing the whistle.
"Earlier, referees doubled up as linesmen in some matches but that's not going to happen now," AIFF secretary general Alberto Colaco said during the launch of the second edition of the I-league here on Wednesday.
"This is an experiment we are conducting this season in line with the FIFA and AFC guidelines. We felt that there ought to be specialisation in the field of refereeing as well so that the game improves," Colaco said.
The referees committee has selected 50 officials for the initial year based on their performance.
"We held a seminar in Kochi last month where these issues were discussed," Referees Committee vice-chairman Milon Dutta said over phone from Kolkata.
"They were also given an option to choose between being a referee or assistant and that's how they were graded," he said, adding that they will be named the I-League panel referees.
There will be 15 dedicated referees conducting matches.
These officials will be responsible for conducting the Federation Cup, Durand Cup and IFA Shield matches, Dutta added.
The pay-scale, however, remains the same for both referees and linesmen. The officials will continue to get Rs 500 for every match they conduct besides a Rs 800 daily allowance.
The former FIFA referee also said that a proposal has been sent to the AIFF to consider rewarding the best match official in the I-League.
While referees from Maldives were seen in action in the last I-League, this year officials from Malaysia and Singapore may also be seen on the field.
"We already have an exchange programme for referees with the Maldives. This year we have sent proposals to Singapore and Malaysia as well.
"But we don't want it to be a one-way traffic. If they call our referees then we will also invite some of them to conduct matches here," said Colaco.
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