In a first of its kind initiative, the Bangladesh Football Federation has given recognition to Alomgir Sarker as the best referee for the month of December, and hailed the initiative as a step towards motivating referees to do a better job.

Imrul Hasan, BFF's vice-president and chairman of the Professional Football League Committee, handed over a crest and a cheque of Tk 50,000 as recognition to the referee for his performance in December, prior to the start of the Sheikh Russel v Fortis FC match at the Bashundhara Kings Arena today.

Alomgir, a BFF-approved referee since 2011 and a FIFA referee since 2021, was selected on the basis of his performance throughout the month of December, scrutinised by a panel of four match officials of BFF.

Speaking to media regarding the award, Imrul said, "Usually players are rewarded but the referees go unrecognised. We thought the referees need to be recognised. After I took over at the committee, our pledge was to honour referees each month and choose one as the best for the year. So we honoured the best referee today and I think it will encourage the referees to officiate with more fairness and responsibility."

Älomgir thanked Imrul's committee and the refereeing committee for the award. 

"This is a great thing for me to be rewarded as the first referee. It will encourage me to do better in future," Alomgir told The Daily Star.

It has been learnt that Bashundhara Kings, of which Imrul is the president, had sent a letter to the BFF asking for fair refereeing and for not selecting some specific referees for the crucial league match against Abahani, which took place in Gopalganj yesterday.

Whether the letter was entertained by the game's local governing body could not be known. Abahani, too, had raised issues with the BFF regarding venues of the Independence Cup but those demands were certainly not met.

When asked about this issue, Imrul said: "There will be allegations from teams in football when a club might lose a match or might feel the refereeing was not to their liking. But I don't think that will have an impact on choosing the best referee. We are satisfied with the standard of refereeing so far and I believe the controversies surrounding referees will go away."

Alomgir said that he is not fazed by whoever is sitting on the dugout or in the VIP box once the game starts.

"When I go into the pitch, I only think about my duty and how I can perform it efficiently. I feel like I'm the king," the referee from Gazipur said.