Blue's whistle man revealed

Fiji Sports

Izaz Sahib, Blue's popular whistleman IN the sport of football, the referee is the person responsible for interpreting laws of the game.

A whistle is used to start, stop, or restart the play.

But if you are Sameer Izaz Sahib, you don't have to know the laws or carry a whistle, as long as you sound like one, you could stop the game at your liking.

“Refereeing didn’t excite me, yet I pulled some of the strangest calls at Churchill Park between the 90s-2000s, when the Blues was playing”, said Izaz, who is a diehard Lautoka fan.

“People heard the whistle but never knew the man behind it”.

Simon Anand, the former Lautoka football defender of the era remembers the whistle man who every so often terminated a play during home games at the Churchill Park.

“He was very good at what he did”, he said.

“Once you hear the play stop and if it was not the referee, it had to be the mystery whistle man”.

Simon said the referee, players and fans got confused.

Izaz said he blew down hard when the Blues were about to concede a near goal, were under attack or just thwarted opponents' scoring opportunities.

“I sat quietly on the field side with friends and did what I did, which is whistle indicating a foul had been committed”, he said.

“I didn’t have a whistle so to speak but trust me I broke plays.

“I could see the agitation of the players, referee and opposing fans”.

Izaz laughed away when asked if ever got called out or asked to leave the ballpark, he said he was lucky that never happened.

Izaz said whistling isn’t an art show, adding it comes natural, all it needs is a bit practice.

“If you have it, go to the next ball game. Try it, I don’t find it fun doing it, long ways from being a boy to a man”.

Simon said Izaz, who is affably known as ‘Jajju’ was a known comic, and a popular one in Lautoka.