By Malik Riaz Hai Naveed
Webmaster and Chief Editor of FootbalPakistan.com
FootbalPakistan.Com: What made you a referee?
Shahid Rasheed: I was 23 years old when I started my referee career. At that time I was B class referee but people liked me as assistant referee. In 2007 I got the chance to go Bangladesh to officiate the U14 festival. Then the Asian Football Confedraion selected me for their project in Malaysia.
In the same year they invited me in Malaysia. There Mr Ian Blanchered (chairman uk referee association) and 5 other referee instructors selected me for the second year program. This unique programe was especially designed for young referees. During this 2 years we went to different countries and got experience in refereeing. We visited the country’s top referees and I have successfully completed this program. And after this program I qualified to become FIFA referee in 2010.
FPDC: Tell us about your achievements.
SR: My aim is to become world cup referee and I want to represent Pakistan in the world cup. Our team is not able to qualify for the world cup but our referee standard is high. They can go to the world cup if they work hard .
FPDC: What are you doing in the USA?
SR: The AFC sent me to officiate the Dallas cup in the USA. Here in New York I am contracted to the Soccer Association for one year. I will officiate the New York league.
FPDC: Tell our young boys how to become a referee.
SR: If somebody wants to become a referee, I will suggest him that the first thing he needs to know is English and the second thing is that he needs to complete the fitness test. You need to have a good personality, sincere with profession and you need to like soccer. If someone has all this qualities he can be a good referee in future . But experience is very important then he will handle big games and his control of the game will be good.