Coaches livid as MSSA reduce match duration to save on referee fees

The MSSA Boys U-16 Div-I league matches were played across 60 minutes (30 minutes of two halves)

Don Bosco (Matunga) coach Leslie Machado and St Anne's sports-in-charge Sebastian D'Souza, cried foul after their Ahmed Sailor Boys' U-16 knockout match on Saturday was reduced to just 40 minutes (two halves of 20 minutes each). The MSSA Boys U-16 Div-I league matches were played across 60 minutes (30 minutes of two halves).

Matches too short
Machado was unhappy despite his team winning 2-0. "Ahmed Sailor matches were always 60 minutes but the referees told me that MSSA has instructed them to reduced it to 40 minutes. This is not good because if you are playing against a weak team, with such a short duration, teams tend to pack their defence to avoid conceding goals and are happy to take the match into the tie-breaker, which is then anybody's game," fumed Machado.

D'Souza said that his team didn't know about the shortened match duration. "We were not given any intimation that the matches would be for just 40 minutes. This is unfair on the kids because there is hardly any time, and just as a team settles down into a match, the half is over. Secondly, if a team concedes a goal, there is not enough time to stage a fightback," remarked D'Souza.

It is learnt that the reason behind the reduced match duration is cost-cutting. MSSA football secretary Sebastian Fernandes, who single-handedly conducts the schools' football activities, has decided to cut the referee's match fee from R200 to R150 per official in the Ahmed Sailor tournament. For U-16 Div-I matches, the referees were paid R200 each (R200x3 referees) per match.

"Sebastian informed us that referees would be paid only R150 per match for first-round matches of the Ahmed Sailor tournament and also instructed us to play the matches across 40 minutes. He said that the amount would be increased to R200 per referee from the second round onwards," said referee Tapan Ghosh, who is in-charge of assigning referees for MSSA matches. When reminded that the third round matches are in progress, Ghosh said he would speak to Fernandes and sort out the issue.

'Can't bargain with refs'
Dhanraj More, Western India Football Association's (WIFA) head of referees, said that referees' payment cannot be decided by the duration of matches. "This is not a grocery shop where you can bargain and reduce match duration because you want to pay referees less. It's the kids who suffer because they take so much trouble to train and get to play for only 40 minutes. MSSA must be more professional in organising football tournaments," said More. Repeated attempts to contact Fernandes over the phone evoked no response.

Also Read: MSSA Football: Yash nets solitary goal in St Paul's win

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