Experienced Englishman Trevor Kettle has been appointed as the Chief Refereeing Officer by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to monitor all of their refereeing matters.
Kettle’s duties include the implementation of the Elite Refereeing Development Plan (ERDP), which involves identifying and developing refereeing talent from the grassroots and making them thorough professionals to operate at the elite level of the sport.
A newly elected AIFF Referees Committee will work in conjunction with Kettle. This program is also going to require a collaboration and co-operation from many stakeholders in India.
Kettle has officiated in more than 800 professional games in England and hence he brings a wealth of experience with him. He was also a Premier League Assistant Referee between 1999 and 2003 and was also a part of many historic events, including the introduction of full-time professional referees, officiating in the first Community Shield game between Liverpool and Arsenal, and officiating in the final of the Football League Cup between Tottenham Hotspur v Blackburn Rovers.
“The appointment of Mr. Kettle as the CRO in the AIFF is actually the beginning of a new chapter in Indian refereeing,” said AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran.
Kettle was also elated to take up the role, “A whole lot of change is expected to come in Indian football since a new roadmap would be ushered in very soon and refereeing would be an important segment of the exercise.”
“The main objective right now is not only to improve refereeing at the highest level, but also to identify the young talents who can be the elite referees later. There are a number of strategic points on which we can work towards this,” Kettle added.
Kettle was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2003 and he officiated in all the three English football leagues. He also played a crucial role to improve fairness and integrity of match officials as he was the Prime spokesperson for the National Group of Referees.
