We hardly see any woman running all over the ground with a whistle while there are 22 male footballers and two male assistant referees on the field. But the picture is very familiar in European football now thanks to girls like Farida Kajal.
Farida, a Bangladeshi, is a familiar face to the referees of the German football leagues now. She once played in Pioneer Football, Bangamata and Bangabandhu School Football, Club Cup, District and Divisional tournaments in Dhaka and showed her unique skills.
The girl from Shariatpur might have never thought that the experience would be useful this way. It has brought her immense fortune. In addition to referring various matches in the local football league in Leipzig, Farida also acts as a referee in many tournaments in Berlin.
Heart-broken, Farida started playing cricket as well as starting a training to become a football referee. After passing the qualifying test of the referees’ committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), she worked as a referee in a number of tournaments in the country till 2014.
At one time she also did a volleyball referral course. In addition to referrals, Farida holds a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s degree from Dhaka University.
In addition to her academic studies, Farida passed BPED from the Physical Education College in 2011. It was becoming difficult for her to run her own expenses by referring only. She had worked as a sports teacher at Bangladesh International School and Australian International School in Dhaka for a few years.
“My first match was on 31 January, 2016,” said Farida, noting that the experience of playing on the first day in Germany was excellent.
“I was a little scared, but everything went well. Everyone praised me after the match,” she added.
Farida has never been treated differently for being a girl. She said, “I was scared at first that I am brown. I thought they would not respect me. But they have cooperated well in every match. I was never treated differently for being a girl.”
Farida watches games of the German Bundesliga at the stadium whenever she gets a chance. She enjoyed many matches of FC Schalke, Bayern Munich, along with local Arabic Leipzig, in Leipzig Stadium. Due to the coronavirus, all football related activities in Leipzig are currently halted. Farida cannot wait to return to the field as soon as the lockdown is lifted.
* This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat