It was his dream to play football for the state or the country when he grew up. With that goal in mind, Ujjal Halder of Vijaynagar, Kalyani, started practicing on the field one day at the age of five. His dream did not come true due to fate. But he did not leave the field either. Even though he no longer plays football, the twenty-eight-year-old Ujjal has become a national-level referee. He is quite famous in the country's football community as a skilled referee. In a short time, this young referee, who is part of the 'elite' panel, has been given the responsibility of officiating several important international matches like the IFA Shield Final, Santosh Trophy Final, Indian Super League, and even SAFF Games. But he has to travel around in search of a permanent source of income.
According to familial and local sources, Ujjal started going to the field at a very young age, guided by his sports-loving father. His father died when he was just ten years old. After that, Ujjal met with an accident on his way to practice in the field before the district school game. Realizing that it was not possible to save him from his mother’s tea shop income, the school teachers and neighbors stood by him that day. Due to illness, he had to stay off the field for almost three years. But with the power of indomitable willpower, Ujjal returned to the football field, pushing poverty aside. He also earned quite a reputation by playing for the Subrata Cup and State University Football teams in the state school football. But he could not leave everything on the shoulders of his elderly mother. Instead, to manage the family, he had to quit his studies from college and sometimes work for a hundred days, sometimes even cleaning the excise office for a little money.
In Ujjal's words, "At that time, I was in the third year of BA. It was not possible to continue my studies. The poverty in the family was so great that I had to quit my studies and go to work. In this way, the more I was separated from the playing field, the more my dreams of becoming a great footballer were also ending. At that time, knowing my interest in sports, especially football, Prabir Chakraborty of the area advised me to become a referee." That's when the second innings began.
In 2012, Ujjal became the official referee in a Bengal football match. In 2015, he was recognized as a national referee. He regrets that many national referees have got government jobs in other states. Government jobs can also be obtained based on the 'sports policy' prepared by the centre. But he had previously written to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate for work and received no response. He was advised to apply to the local MLA. Even among the top four performers in the Second Division I-League, there is a suppressed indifference in his eyes. Although it is not difficult to understand the reason. In just twenty-four years of life, he has had to move forward in life by struggling so much, or is still struggling today, which has made him so tolerant and tolerant. Poverty, misery, pain are his daily companions. His great achievements are unable to feed him two handfuls of rice twice a day.
Currently, the most discussed issue in Indian football is refereeing. Despite years of progress, there has been no improvement in refereeing in Indian football. Clubs have repeatedly raised concerns about bad refereeing in the ISL. Despite assurances from the AIFF to take action, they have not taken any strict action. Clubs are having to move forward with bad refereeing and complaints. Amidst the bad refereeing, good news has come for Indian football. Specifically, for Bengali football. Bengal's Ujjal Halder has been named in the 2024 FIFA refereeing panel. His name is in the newly released FIFA referee list. His name has been included as assistant referee. Naturally, the Bengali football community is happy with this news. In an expensive league like the ISL, where questions are repeatedly raised about refereeing, the presence of a Bengali referee in the FIFA list adds a different dimension.
Apart from him, Bengal's Pranjal Banerjee and female referee Kanika Barman are also on the list. Assistant referees include Asit Sarkar and Samar Pal. Senthilnathan Sekharan and Deeptesh Savant have been selected from outside Bengal. Ujjal says, "Everyone understands how much money one can earn by selling tea. But there is no other way to earn money."
Being selected in the AFC elite panel as fourth Bengali referee, he expressed his gratitude to his senior colleague Pranjal Banerjee as a guardian cum mentor. Ujjal acknowledged, “in every step of my career, I always try to pursue his valuable advices, crucial tips before facing everyday challenges. I heartily observed Pranjal’s high time in 2015 to fight against his crushing betrayal luck with his father’s recent demise and power to obey the weight of his responsibility to officiate the AFC Cup match within a week of the incident. Such an unimaginable dedication sparked a spirit into my growing mind”. However, a severe accident tried to stop his rhythmic journey. But, he successfully overcame all the repugnancy. He served as an assistant referee in 50 Calcutta Football League matches and officiated the same in 100 matches.
Today, Ujjal’s dream of officiating a World Cup match is in front of his eyes, following in the footsteps of K Shankar. In this context, he said, "Despite being short, K Shankar is a legend in the field of Indian refereeing. He has also refereed matches while standing on the line in the World Cup. I am also following his path. He has helped me a lot. He has given me many tips. I want to walk on the path shown by him." In spite of these, he has made an appeal to the mother of upcoming young talents of Bengal to densely encourage their children for kicking off into the ground.
