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Adhering to the daily schedule of matches has hardly been the norm with MSSA throughout this inter-school football season, and Thursday was no different.
The first semi-final of the boys U-16 Ahmed Sailor tournament between Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) and Chatrabhuj Narsee School (Kandivli) was scheduled at 9.30 am. However, due to the unavailability of match officials and match balls, the fixture was delayed. Both teams arrived at the venue well before the time, but had to wait.
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The referee for the match, Harry Fernandes, who is supposed to arrive at least 30 minutes before kick-off, reported to the venue at 9.30 am. When mid-day asked him the reason, he replied that this was the official reporting timing given to him by MSSA. Apart from this, no match balls were made available by MSSA because the referees room, where the match balls are kept, was locked. The match finally began at 10am, but this delay meant that the second-final, scheduled for 10:30am got pushed further too. MSSA football secretary Sebastian Fernandes admitted that the delay was unfortunate. “The coaches of the teams told me about today’s delay. It’s unfortunate, but I cannot speak to the referee directly. That’s the duty of the chief of referees, Tapan Ghosh. We only inform the officials about match timings. I will report the referee’s latecoming today to Tapan and he will look into it. Regarding the referees room being locked, I will speak to the Brother at St Francis school as the ground belongs to them. I’ll check why there was a miscommunication about the availability of keys, resulting in the delay,” said Fernandes.
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