02 September,2026 09:04 AM IST | Mumbai | Rufus Vedanayagam
A match official with the worn out ball during the MSSA U-16 football match at Azad Maidan on Tuesday. Pic/Ashish Raje
Usually, it's the football stars who garner all the attention after an exciting match, but on Tuesday, it was the poor condition of the match balls that took centre stage after defending champions Bombay Scottish School (Mahim) beat Cambridge International (Kandivli) 4-2 via tie-breaker in a thrilling boys U-16 Ahmed Sailor Dreams Sports-Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) knockout match.
The torn and worn out condition of the match balls had the players, referee and coaches, all complaining.
Bombay Scottish coach Joseph D'Mello said schools are paying registration fees and deserve better facilities. "It's wrong to play with such kind of balls. This is an important inter-school tournament, not some gully match. Schools have paid to register for this tournament, so the least MSSA can do is provide good balls," D'Mello told mid-day.
Cambridge coach Tushar Poojary was equally upset. "I cannot understand what is happening at MSSA. Given the poor condition of these balls, how do you expect the sport to improve at the grassroots. The ball is the most basic thing," said Poojary.
The players said that the balls behaved abnormally. Cambridge captain Ayyan Suthar said: "Controlling the ball was a problem because the outer layer was worn out so badly. We thought the ball would burst," said Suthar.
"The ball kept swerving weirdly, making it difficult for me to judge while catching it. Even the bounce was irregular," said Scottish goalkeeper Avneesh Patil.
Match referee Harry Fernandes backed the complaints. He said: "These balls are provided to us by MSSA. You cannot expect children to play a tournament with such balls. I agree there are many matches happening across a few days, but these balls have worn out in just two days. MSSA must realise this and provide new balls."
MSSA Football secretary Sebastian Fernandes admitted there was a problem and assured mid-day that this will not happen again. "Had the referees informed us about the poor condition of the balls, we would've immediately provided new ones. I will make sure this does not happen in the upcoming matches," said Sebastian.
Earlier, Ruhaan Moria put Scottish ahead in the ninth minute before Cambridge scored a late injury-time equaliser through Aditya Batulware, forcing the tie-breaker. In the shootout, Tejas Vadakoot, Sidharth Nair, Ruhaan, and Avneesh converted for Scottish, while only Armin Ghumane and Dhruv Gusain could score for Cambridge.
