Dave Roberts, who will officialte Thursday’s big match. Picture by Gautam Bose

Calcutta: Tired of constant allegations against the standard of refereeing in local matches, the Indian Football Association (IFA) has opted for a British referee (Dave Roberst) to officiate in the Calcutta Football League premier division match between arch-rivals East Bengal and Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.

Announcing this at a press conference on Wednesday, honorary secretary Subrata Dutta, however, added, “this should not be seen as our lack of confidence in local referees, but merely a value addition towards the commercialisation of the sport in India.”

Roberts, a certified Class I referee, currently associated with the (professional) S-League in Singapore, knows fully well of what to expect.“I went to the stadium today and thought that the pitch was absolutely brilliant, hard and perfect for such an important match,” he quipped, adding: “I will meet the other officials later as communication is going to be crucial.”

Declaring this to be one of the most important matches of his career, Roberts, who has also officiated in the FA Cup, said: “it’s going to be four times the noise and crowd of what I am used to, but I tend to focus on my game.”

For someone who idolises the likes of Pierluigi Collina and Markus Merk, it’s all about controlling the match.

“The moment I feel that my control on the game is slipping away? I have a lot of tools in my armoury to set it right”, said Roberts.