The earnings of the referees stopped in the absence of football matches in the city, the Bombay Referees Association has provided loans of Rs 5000 each to its seven members to help them tackle the crisis, triggered by COVID-19.
A referee usually earns average Rs 300-500 per match in an organised league tournament and in private league matches they earns Rs 1,500 a day.
Shirzad Bhatena, treasurer of the body, told PTI, "We have been able to extend help to seven members and have given Rs 5,000 per person."
Explaining the decision to give the money as loan, Bhatena said, "If you don't say it as a loan, anybody and everybody will pop up. So we wanted to help the really needy people. Nine people had applied but we selected seven."
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