Change is the only constant goes the saying. But one feature that doesn’t seem to change is the familiar figure of football referee Syed Ghalib on the field.
Critics dislike him and often find fault with the way he does his job. But the fact that he has been officiating in the city leagues for over three decades and is still going strong is what makes him a fighter in the Hyderabad football scene.
He takes pride in reminding that he played with and against the Olympians, including Hamid Hussain, D. Kannan, Yousuf Khan, Zulfiquaruddin and S.A. Hakeem.
Irrespective of who holds the reins in the State football association, Ghalib manages to be in the scheme of things. He says he wrote the referees’ examination, thanks to the initiative of the then united A.P. Football Association Secretary N. Alaf Khan and once he cleared it, ample opportunities came his way.
A resident of Vijayanagar Colony in the city, his passion for the sport is such that he cannot be dispensed with. There were innumerable instances when the players were up in arms against him for allegedly giving wrong decisions, but he had his own style of whipping the cards - yellow and red - to handle such situations.
“Yes, by God’s grace, I have been through all this without really getting the rough end of the stick. I don’t say I was flawless, but was always willing to improve with each match,” he says.
Not quitting yet
With TFA president Mohd Rafat Ali and Secretary G.P. Palguna too ensuring that he enjoys his job, Ghalib is in mood to quit.
Priced possession
One of his most priced possessions is the red and yellow cards of the world cup presented to the APFA which were in turn presented to Ghalib by A.K. Khan, then the patron of the association, as a token of appreciation for his ‘untiring efforts’.
TFA’s efforts
What hurts him the most now?
“The worst thing to happen is a player quitting football after getting a decent job under the sports quota. This is one of the reasons for the decline in the football standards for close to two decades. But now, things are looking better, thanks to the efforts of TFA,” signs off Syed Ghalib.
