The irony is hard to miss. Just 24 hours after the multi-crore Indian Super League teams were announced on Sunday, a Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) league Super Division match between Income Tax (Fort) and Father Agnel (Vashi) at St Xavier's ground, Parel scheduled for a 4 pm start could only get underway at 5:15 pm due to shortage of referees.


Pic used for representational purpose only 

That indeed is the reality of Indian football. A few days ago, a match between Young Boys (Madanpura) and Renaissance Hotel (Andheri) was similarly delayed due to shortage of referees and had to be eventually called off as the late start led to bad light making play impossible.