Children suffer due to clash of MSSA, DSO schedules

Children suffering due to clash of schedules between MSSA & District Sports body

Due to the ongoing battle for supremacy between authorities of Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) and District Sports authorities, it is the children who are suffering. Yesterday, for St Dominic Savio School (Andheri), it was a double whammy, as the boys not only won their MSSA U-16 first division tie against Cathedral and John Connon (Fort) 3-1 at Azad Maidan, but also the U-17 boys DSO match against Hansraj (Marol) 5-1 at St Francis Ground in Borivli.


Ashutosh Katkar (in yellow) of St Joseph and Naville D'cunha (in Blue)
of Don Bosco School seen in action during the Boys U-16 DIV 1 match
played at Azad Maidan yesterday. PIC/PRADEEP DHIVARu00a0
u00a0
However, it was a tall task nevertheless considering seven of Savio's boys from the MSSA team - Daniel D'Souza, Arneil Vaz, Affan Sabbaji, Kunal Sriyan, William Paul, Nikhil Pal and Dariul Quadraf - also played in the DSO match

Daniel, who scored two goals in the DSO match before scoring another goal in the MSSA match, said: "Indeed, it was a tiring day for us. We played the DSO match in the morning, and then came here for the MSSA match. But I am happy that we won both games."

Arneil Vaz, who scored a goal in the MSSA match, echoed similar emotions: "We left home at eight in the morning for the DSO game in Borivali (at 9 am). After that, we were in school for barely half an hour before we had to leave for the MSSA game in the afternoon. We reached home only around 5 pm."

Mumbai Suburban District Sports Officer (DSO) Sharad Kalawant said the problem arose due to MSSA's lack of co-operation. "DSO has three levels of tournaments - district, division and national. When we requested MSSA to adjust to our schedule, they in turn asked us to do so. MSSA should co-operate with us, as theirs is just one league. But they are adamant and that's a problem," explained Kalawant.