The safety of youngsters seems unimportant to the District Sports Office (DSO) that is conducting the DSO-Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) combine U-17 Subroto Mukherjee knockout football tournament at Azad Maidan
Yesterday, during the two quarter-final matches — HR College vs Jai Hind College and Christ Church School vs St Xavier’s School (Fort) — there was no medical assistance to treat players in case of injuries. Though thankfully, no student was seriously injured, five players — Porus Shroff (HR, Shantanu (Jai Hind), Mahir Singh (Jai Hind), Prathamesh Jadhav (St Xavier’s) and Rayyan Shaikh (Christ Church) suffered minor bruises and were given first aid by their respective coaches.
Action during the Subroto Mukherjee U-17 DSO-MSSA quarter-final between Jai Hind College and HR College at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate
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u00a0HR coach Marshall John was disappointed with the lack of medical facilities at hand, but said the boys had no option but to play the DSO events given the significance of the certificates issued by the district body. “We are used to this kind of treatment meted out by DSO by we expected things to change this year since the MSSA are involved too. But that has not happened. The boys are forced to play the DSO tournament as theiru00a0Certificates are beneficial to the players in the long run,” said John.
Another coach on condition of anonymity said: “Both DSO and MSSA are waiting for something major to happen. Today, they didn’t even have a first aid box, forget about having a doctor.” DSO official Uday Pawar however, was in denial mode. “Who says there was no first aid kit at Azad Maidan? There was a female DSO representative with a first aid box at the venue. And if that’s not enough, the MSSA officials keep us updated if there’s any major injury concern,” Pawar told MiD DAY.
MSSA football secretary Anslem Alphonso though admitted there was an error. “Regardless of whether or not DSO officials are providing medical facilities, since the matches are being held at MSSA’s premises, it is our duty to ensure that a first aid box and ice are made available to players. Unfortunately, today that didn’t happen but we will ensure this is not repeated in future,” said Alphonso.
Results: (Q/F): Jai Hind College 1 bt H R College 0; Christ Church 4 bt St Xavier’s School (Fort) 3 via tie-breakeru00a0
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