Football referees R. Venkatesh and P. Vairamuthu are trusted friends, having toured various parts of India for several national tournaments together.

Residents of Perambur and Pulianthope respectively, the two friends made Chennai proud when they received the “best male referee award” from the All-India Football Federation at its awards function held in Bhubaneswar in early May. Venkatesh won the best referee award while Vairamuthu bagged the best assistant referee award.

In fact, their refereeing journey started together. Both became Tamil Nadu referees in 2009 and National referees in 2014. In 2018, Venkatesh became an International referee and Vairamuthu achieved the distinction a year later.

“It feels great to receive the AIFF award for the second successive year. It was because of my consistency and solid decision-making abilities,” says Venkatesh.

Venkatesh has this to say about Vairamuthu — “he knows when to interfere and when not to interfere with the referee’s decision. He has played a supportive role.”

And Vairamuthu has this to say about Venkatesh — “he takes control of the situation on the field and is very good in his decisions.”

Assistant referee Vairamuthu, who got the award in 2019, was happy to receive it again. “Of course, It feels great,” he said.

The two are keen on participating in many international tournaments and are of the view that if VAR (video assistant referee is a match official in football, who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the on-field referee based on those reviews) is introduced in India, referees’ growth will be faster.