St Lawrence High School (Borivli) found themselves in the midst of controversy following their 4-0 win over CNM School (Vile Parle) in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) boys U-16 Division-II football tournament at Wings Sports Centre, Bandra, on Thursday. A thoroughly dominant result faded into the background as it was later learnt that two St Lawrence players took to the field donning the same jersey number (No. 8) — a violation of standard football rules, which stipulates that every player should wear a unique number for the purpose of identification.
Aman Hatagale wore the No. 8 jersey in the first-half after which his replacement in the second-half, Saish Desai, also wore the same jersey. Astonishingly, the match officials did not catch the duplication and the game went on uninterrupted.
After the match, when mid-day brought the error to the attention of the referee Akshay Kahar, he accepted his mistake, explaining, “It’s my fault. I was only told after the game by my assistant, Badal Nishad, that St Lawrence had a shortage of jerseys. We will ensure such mistakes are not repeated in the future.”
MSSA Football Secretary Sebastian Fernandes also said it was a lapse on the part of the match officials. “It is the referee’s mistake. If we had known beforehand that this team lacked proper jerseys, we would have provided them bibs. Schools are always informed before the tournament begins that jersey number duplication is not allowed,” said Sebastian.
St Lawrence coach Louis Fernandes later revealed his reason for the error. “We’ve placed an order for new jerseys this season, but they haven’t arrived yet, so we are using last season’s jerseys. Unfortunately, some players, who were not selected this year, have not returned their kits, which led to this shortage. I assure you, once the new jerseys come, this won’t happen again,” said Louis.
Despite the jersey fiasco, the Borivli outfit delivered a convincing performance. Hatagale netted the opener in the 15th minute before Devansh Shewale doubled St Lawrence’s lead 10 minutes later. Pratik Sharma then made it 3-0 in the 27th minute and Vishal Dangi capped it off by scoring in the 38th minute.
Other results
Boys U16 Division-II
. Campion School 6 (Abner Rodrigues 2, Jagveer Bhatia 2, Aurev Carvallo, Saatvik Arora) beat DG Khetan (Malad) 0
. St Anthony (Malwani) 1 (Rehan Ansari) drew with St Joseph ‘A’ (Wadala) 1 (Rugved Parab)
. Don Bosco ‘B’ (Matunga) 2 (Aryan Parab, Harshal Devle) beat Lilavatibai Podar, (Santacruz) 1 (Chirayush Patnaik)
. Thakur Public School (Kandivli) 1 (Apurva Sahani) drew with St Francis D’Assisi ‘A’ (Borivli) 1 (Veer Vishwas)
. SVKM (Vile Parle) 1 (Nevan Pawar) drew with Dr Antonio D’Silva (Dadar) 1 (Shakya Jadau)
GIRLS U-16 Division-I
. Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) 2 (Alysa Hora, Nehchal Bright) beat Cathedral and John Connon (Fort) 0
