Sport - Football   

Malady of bias needs to be addressed

By S.R. Suryanarayan

CHENNAI NOV. 5. Football and refereeing controversies are synonymous. Be it at the World Cup, the Asian Games, or at the National championship, the issue surfaces at some stage and shifts the focus away from action.

In some ways, the controversy is more man-made than anything to do with the physical nature of the sport. True, it is the physical element that rakes up the issue. But what compounds it is the interpretation of the referee with all his powers.

He could, with the whistle, elevate the game to a high or spoil it. Whichever way one looks at it, the referee is the central figure who decides the nature of the contest.

At the international level __ judging from the experience seen at the Korea-Japan World Cup __ it is the reluctance of the officialdom to take recourse to technological innovations, like television replays, which is causing the embarrassment.

At the National level, in the Imphal National championship for instance, it is the flawed interpretation of the laws that has raised the question of integrity of the referee. And considering the facts, the authorities have not come off it in good light.

It is nobody's case that M.K. Roy, the official who came into attention after that controversy-ridden match involving Manipur and Tamil Nadu, is incompetent. For, being on the FIFA panel and having shown so much interest in witnessing matches in Korea and Japan, by spending from his own pocket, this Assamese is a conscientious type. In fact, those involved in refereeing in India confirm that Roy is not one to lose his way in a close encounter.

It must have been for this reason alone that he was posted for a match involving the Manipur, where the pressure could be high what with the thousands in the stands crying hoarse for the home team.

But that very reason comes under close scrutiny considering that this is an age when no leeway is tolerated if it smacks of bias.

Whatever be Roy's credentials, the fact that he, as a man from a North-Eastern State, should have been posted for a match involving a team from the same zone, is good enough reason for the opposition to co-relate on-field incidents with organiser's dubious intentions and cry foul.

Why create problems where nothing existed is the question? Surely, when referees have assembled from North or West Zones, someone from there should have been posted. All this could have put to rest the insinuation that it was a set-up to ensure Manipur's advancing to the next round.

It is a sad commentary on the organising machinery that when the AIFF is trying to break new ground by taking the prestigious Santosh Trophy championship to untouched areas as yet, actions that reflect lack of wisdom are sullying the good intention.

The AIFF's new nativity provision has given a fresh twist to the power equations to the game in the country and nothing reflected this better than the way Manipur, for instance, had prepared, getting the services of some of the best known players of the State who play for Bengal and Goa clubs.

Undoubtedly, the move to tap the talent of North-Eastern States is commendable, but certain ground realities, like the intense parochial feelings, should have been taken into account as well.

This has led to a touch of unreality to the whole championship. We had crowd invasion leading to abandonment of a semifinal, then an unheard of rescheduling with further compromise of having the sentence of red card punishment revoked for one key player. That the Chairman of the disciplinary committee, Mr. Hardev Jadeja was concerned about the proper ending of the championship, unmindful of the questionable means to that end, is sad indeed.

It is one thing to encourage football in a talent-rich region but quite another if the effort is also to see that the coveted Santosh Trophy too stayed there. Has the dilution of the National championship reached such a stage that nothing seems to matter?

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