Rare honour for soccer referee Dilan Perera
View(s):What it takes to be a proud moment; Sri Lanka Football reached a historic milestone by reaching to FIFA World Cup status in Refereeing with one of its ilk qualifying to officiate at top level in football.
“Dilan is a role model for any young referee to take up refereeing as a challenge.
The honour comes to the island nation from Dilan Perera, a top football referee with a sound track record. Perera hails from Kalutara, a town situated in the Southern coastal belt just outside the country’s capital of Colombo, has been selected among the four referees from the Asian region to officiate the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile to be held in October 2015.
The final selection was carried out by FIFA refereeing experts after analysing hundreds of international referees in Asia for the four slots allocated to Asia. Perera proved his abilities at international level in over 150 games played all around Asia. At present he serves as a FIFA International Referee, a job he has been doing for the past 11 years. The four referees selected in Asia are from Qatar, Malaysia, UAE and Sri Lanka.
Earlier this year, Perera was picked by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to officiate in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Australia, the top most competition in Asian Football. He officiated in the Asian Cup with his fellow Assistant Referee – Palitha Hemathunghe who comes from Gampola.
Perera has also officiated in many important international tournaments such as AFC Under-22 Championship quarter-final and the final in Oman, the AFC Under-19 Championship final in Myanmar, the AFC Champions League 2014 pre-quarter-final in Saudi Arabia in addition to being part of the first edition of lucrative Indian Super League (ISL) 2014 in India.
Perera enters into the history book to be the first referee to officiate in Asian Cup and in a FIFA Under-17 World Cup ever. Earlier Nimal Wickremathungha has officiated as an assistant referee in the FIFA World Cup held in France in 1998. Perera is also one of the 12 prospective referees in the Asian Squad for the FIFA World Cup Russia in 2018. AFC has 46 member countries and over 300 international referees, where Perera is also a member.
“Football refereeing is not an easy task, requires great fitness level, knowledge, experience and ability to react quickly. There is no technology like replays and slow motions in football refereeing and a referee shall make a decision in split seconds. It is a great achievement for Sri Lanka football and we all are proud of Dilan (Perera) for taking our country name to the world level. He has lived his dream to be one of the best referees in Asia,” commented Anura de Silva, the President of Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL).
“Dilan is a role model for any young referees to take up refereeing as a challenge. He is simply the best not only in South Asia but also one of the top referees in Asia. His commitment, hard work and his passion for refereeing have taken him to the world’s top level,” Jaswar Umar, the General Secretary of Sri Lanka Football Referees Association (SLFRA) stated.
SLFRA has appealed to all football commercial partners and sponsors to join them in the grand facilitation prior to his departure this month. The Minister of Sports of Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekera was one of the first to congratulate Perera on this remarkable achievement. -NA