In the fitness test conducted for the 59 referees selected for officiating the matches 43 referees made it through. Among the 43 referees Denny Jacob, Gokulan KN (both Thrissur) Sasikumar PS (Palakkad) and Mohammed Basheer (Kozhikode) from Kerala has been qualified.
Speaking to FootballKerala.com, Denny Jacob said that the physical endurance tests conducted was very tough. The participants went through 40m straight runs with 6 repeats and were given 7 minutes break. Resuming from the break there were 20 repeats of 150m run to be completed in 30 seconds followed by 50m walk to be completed in 40 seconds.
The qualification tests were conducted at Nehru Stadium Chennai during 28th and 29th of September by AIFF. The qualified referees underwent two day classroom and field sessions aimed at improving the standard of match officials. The main theme of these two days were consistency in application of laws of the game.
Photo: the-AIFF.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 30 September 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.