When United Goans Football Center popularly known as UG initiated competitive soccer activities first time for Indians in 1979 at the Sour Grounds, there was no IFRA which came into being much later with the initiative of J.P. D”Mello who also came to Kuwait much later. During the early part of the soccer activities referees who were supervising the games were doing this job in their individual capacities and not as members of any association. Peter Monteiro had the unique distinction of supervising the first match between Salmiya Youth of Peter D;Souza and Goan Sporting at the second ground where there is Mosque built now. I was captaining the Salmiya Youth and in this inaugural match we defeated Goan Sporting by 2-0 goals, ultimately Goan Sporting won the inaugural championship.
Now retiring from Kuwait and an IFRA referee Tony Costa was playing a stellar role in the attack of Goan Sporting having lot of power and magnetism in his left foot and while running he was sprinting with the ball like an Olympian sprinter making difficult for the opposite defenders to check his moves. Even by being the best defender and inspite of being considered as the top stopper among Indians in Kuwait then I found extremely difficult to stop him from scoring and that’s how they lost to our team. During his days by donning the colours of Goan Sporting he with his entertaining game gave an added colour for our soccer then, such type of soccer we don’t see now among Indians in Kuwait. Later on he took up to refereeing where he was less flawless. Now since he is retiring for good from Kuwait, I wish him all the best but stress again that he was the magnificent footballer among us in Kuwait of whose stature we will not get another again easily. During his stay in Kuwait he was besides soccer very active in the community activities.
During the invasion of Kuwait he was very active and supportive for the cause of Kuwait by deeply involving in the promotion of Goa-Kuwait Solidarity Movement formed in Goa by Kuwait Goan evacuees in support of the liberation of Kuwait. The DVD of this movement shows him clearly displaying his love and support for Kuwait.
Till the time of invasion of Kuwait IFRA dominated the Indian soccer arena in Kuwait. No doubt IFRA referees played a good role with the excellent training they got regularly from J.P. D’Mello yet there were many mistakes they used to make because of which many times many untoward incidents took place on the field. Bad Refereeing is the major source of confusion during our matches not only now but even from the inception year. Bad referring creates bad atmosphere on the playfield leading to the display of yellow and red cards and further leading to the suspensions of the erring players and their teams, many times unwarrantedly as revenge because some of the unfit referees dealt with the players wrongly.
KIFF said it conducts its soccer activities as per the rules of FIFA which stipulates age limit for referees. How many referees in the KIFF organised tournaments are within this age limit? Some of the Indian referees supervising KIFF matches are unfit to do their job properly and efficiently and yet sadly they don’t retire voluntarily from this field and KIFF is also not making them redundant. It looks greed for prominence and sense for identity is their aim because other than soccer they have nothing in them to identify themselves as somebody. They are suffering from ancestral and parental inferiority complex. Football activities give them some importance and identity in the narrow lane of the life. Otherwise even a “Kuddo Mus” will not hello them especially for their vindictive nature against some players and teams.
It is wrong on the part of players to play foul game for which they deserve punishment that is sure but what provokes them to play foul game is the foul supervision by the foul referees. Many of the KIFF referees are revengeful and vindictive which they release on the soccer ground. They don’t only take their revenge based on the fault of the players but sometimes based on the anger of the players’ relatives as well. Can KIFF do anything on this? Because of such nasty acts of the referees once in Goa one Kuwait Goan referee was assaulted during his vacation as a punishment for wrongly punishing innocent player.
KIFF is totally at the mercy of IFRA and being so Hitlerism rules in the management of our soccer. Good that both these bodies are unrecognised by the local authorities and both are domestic ones otherwise they would outpace FIFA. Much of the foul atmosphere is created by the weakness of KIFF which has to be changed. Punishing the errant players and teams wholesomely will never produce good results. Revenge and arrogance is inbuilt in some IFRA referees and also in some KIFF members. Being secluded in one corner they become isolated from greater part of the society that leads them to act narrow. To ascertain themselves correctly they must move beyond KIFF and IFRA into metropolitan society.
For the coming season if things must move well, KIFF must educate IFRA referees not only to behave well but also to act well. In the past very many stoppages and abandoning of the games occurred when Malyalis were one of the teams. Can KIFF find out the reason why this happens and put things into order?
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
