Rupa Devi, made waves in the sports fraternity when she qualified to officiate international matches conducted by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Last week, Rupa became the first woman from Tamil Nadu to achieve this feat.
Footie fun
Rupa’s rendezvous with the game began when she was in Std. VI at St. Joseph’s Girl’s School, Dindigul. She reminisces about how she would stand on the sidelines, where the game would be on in full swing, and kick the ball in whenever it fell near her.
As the years went by, her love for the game grew and she started playing at the sub-junior level in her school. Gradually, she began participating in district level football tournaments, and in 2006, became a part of the Dindigul Football Federation.
She continued to play until she completed her schooling and went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in GTN College, Dindigul. From there she went on do to a B. Ed in Physical Education in Annamalai University.
She also played for the Dindigul Football Association before making appearances for the state and the national team
Once qualified, Rupa was a Physical Instructor in a school in Dindigul. “I worked in a school as the physical education teacher, but they asked me to either quit the game or leave the school as I kept travelling for refereeing purposes. Of course, I gave up my job,” she says in an interview.
Support arrived for Rupa in the form of S. Shanmugam, honorary secretary of the Dindigul Football Association. Her talent did not go unnoticed by him and he urged her to work on her skills. As she comes from an underprivileged background, the Association sponsored her training and she also appeared for the Category IV exam, which she sailed through.
This gave her the chance to referee matches in Tamil Nadu.
Rupa first led the Tamil Nadu women’s football team in 2010 before going on to referee state and national level matches in a host of countries including Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Malaysia and Qatar. She then participated in Project Future, a FIFA programme which identifies referees, and has now been selected as an international referee.
Rupa hopes to officiate in Olympic and World Cup matches. “That’s my dream, besides getting a chance to meet Lionel Messi.”
