Interview: Prakash Nath Shrestha, FIFA referee from Nepal 2022-04-10
Interview with Prakash Nath Shrestha, FIFA referee, from Nepal
We are so proud that Prakash Nath Shrestha, who is a FIFA referee, from Nepal is using our Spintso referee watches! We wanted to know more about him and how it all started with his referee career. We are so curious on how he did find out about Spintso and where did he buy our watch. Let's se what Prakash have to say about his role as a referee.
– Namaste, Prakash Nath Shrestha. So cool to se you use our Spintso watch. Tell us how you started refereeing football!
– Namaste. I started refereeing when I was a player in 2002 and then officiated some matches, also took a basic course 2002. And in 2007 I took a basic refereeing course again and have been a referee since then.
– And before that, did you play football?
– Yes, i was a player before I started refereeing. Actually I have played in Nepal's top league.
– Why did you started refereeing football? Can you tell us more.
– Since my childhood I was attracted towards refereeing. I'm a big fan of Pierluigi Collina by seeing his personality and his way of officiting matches. I was inspired by that and thought a lot about becoming a referee. To make a long story short, there is a very interesting story behind how I started refereeing. When I was playing for a football club one incident happened. One of the referees where not able to officiate the match that time and one of the seniors told me to officiate the match. So I did! I gained a lot of self-esteem and realized that I can do this. This is how I started my refereeing.
– And when did you realize you can to this, been a referee, on a higher level?
– I did my basic refereeing course two times in 2002 and 2007. In 2008 I went to Iran for my first international match. From that game I realized that I can do it on a high level.
– What do you think is different in Nepal, to other countries in Football?
– Oh, a lot i think. There are many differences here in Nepal to other countries. Example the lack of knowledge about football. Here in Nepal most of the people do not know about laws of the game at all. Also the lack of professionalism, we don't have clubs and the economic basic thing like other countries. We do not have facilities for clubs, referees, and we do not have the technology, like GLT and VAR. Yeah, it's different for sure.
– What's your next goal as a referee?
– My next goal as a referee is to officiate world cup matches.
– What is the best tip you can give to a referee? What to focus on?
– In morden football referees must be advanced and be able to keep track of many things at once. These days knowing the laws of the game and having a good fitness is not enough. We should know the tactics of the teams and players, we have to read the game and be able so se a situation before something happens.
– And of course. We are so curious. How did you find out about Spintso and our watch that you use? Tell us the story.
– I bought a Spintso watch in 2016. I saw one of asian referee using one. At that time I checked on an online store and I found the same one. But problem is i don't have the opportunity for online pay system. So I asked one of my friends from another country to pay for that and he helped me out. This is how i got the watch from Spintso!
– Thanks for this Prakash Nath Shrestha, good luck with everything!