Referee will be wired for TV audio

The Indian Football Association (IFA) is all set to create history by providing the British born Malaysian referee Dave Roberts a radio micr...

The Indian Football Association (IFA) is all set to create history by providing the British born Malaysian referee Dave Roberts a radio microphone on the ground when he supervises the semi-finals and final of the 111th IFA Shield to be held in the city from November 24 to December 4.

It will be the first time such an experiment will be carried out on the field and will be on the lines of American football and the recently-introduced Twenty20 cricket.

Roberts, who also officiated in an East Bengal-Mohun Bagan match in the Kolkata Premier Division league, will be wearing a one-way radio microphone which will pick up his voice and that of any player in close proximity. To cut crowd noise, the microphone won’t pick up any voices further than a few metres. The signal from the microphone will be used only when the referee is talking to the players, explaining decisions and so on.

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It will not be made permanently open for TV viewers to hear, but will only be at the discretion of the programme director who will switch it on at key moments. The referee will not know when the microphone is on or off, so it shouldn’t distract him. The technical team of ESPN-Star Sports will test the system a day before the first semi-final on December 1.

IFA secretary Subrata Dutta, commenting on the system, said: “It’s going to be a landmark introduction to the sport. Already, Sky Sports, BBC and ESPN (USA) have shown interest and are eagerly awaiting the outcome. We have already informed Bayern Munich of it and will do so to FIFA after the tournament.”

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