PANJIM: The traffic chaos at Bambolim dashed the hopes of the team of Our Lady of Carmel High School, Arambol, State finalists of Subroto Mukherjee U-17 girls football tournament, as they failed to reach the Santa Cruz ground for the final match on time.
The Saturday’s bus accident, which caused a traffic jam, destroyed the team’s chances of qualifying for
the Nationals.
Aggrieved by the incident, the parents of the students have sent a request letter to Sports Minister Govind Gaude seeking his intervention and help reschedule the State finals.
The parents of the participating team girls in the letter to Gaude have stated, “Give a fair justice to Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School, Arambol, Subroto Mukherjee Football Team, an upcoming football team. Our village school U-17 girls Subroto Mukherjee football team, by virtue of winning North district finals, has reached to State finals which was scheduled on July 26, on Santa Cruz ground at 9.30 am.
The parents further said, “Our school Physical Education teacher was contacted at 9.20 am by the State organiser Anant Sawal and was informed that Arambol team is on the highway proceeding to Panjim. But due to some unavoidable situation, one bus met with an accident near GMC and blocked the road for the traffic. Due to this problem, the Arambol team reached at 10.15 am on the Santa Cruz ground when the opponent team was present at the venue.”
“The opponent team refused to play the State finals with the Arambol team and pressurised the Sawal to give walkover to them and the walk over was given to their opponents. In the sporting spirit they should have played the State finals to get qualified to play the Nationals at Delhi,” they stated.
“We are given to understand that State organisers have some more days up to July 31, 2024 to send the report of winning team to National Organisers, Delhi. But the Football State finals of Subroto Mukherjee U-17 girls did not take place practically on the ground,” reads the letter.
“We, the parents, on the humanitarian grounds, would like to request to your competent authority to do the justice and refix the football match at the State level before July 31, 2024 and help the upcoming U-17 girls football team of Arambol,” the letter adds.
The GMC underpass junction has been facing constant traffic jams, which has resulted in long traffic jams. The football team of Arambol is one of the big victims of this uncontrollable traffic jam.
Meanwhile, speaking exclusively to O Heraldo, Sports Minister Govind Gaude said that there is little that the Sports Ministry can do in this matter because once the match referee has spoken there is no one superseding the decision. “Subroto Cup is a coveted tournament in the country and it is unfair to interfere into a tournament if this stature. The referee did try to find the whereabouts, but had to take a decision that doesn’t do injustice to either of the teams,” he said.
