Dirty Mattresses, Filthy Room Welcome Participants at Subroto Cup

While a new room was offered later, one of the coaches and few players had to sleep on the stadium benches.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore have been the flag-bearers of ‘Khelo India’ for the past few months, but unfortunately, that same spirit is yet to be instilled among the sporting officials and tournament organisers in the country.

The football team from Darjeeling’s St. Teresa's School, representing the Darjeeling District in the Subroto Cup, fell victim to the unprofessional and unacceptable ways of tournament organisers in the country.

Subroto Cup is an annual inter-school football tournament in India, named after the Indian Air Force Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, since 1960.

After a tiring 15-hour journey from Darjeeling to Bankura, which was hosting this year’s tournament in the state of West Bengal, it was only shoddy arrangements that welcomed the girls from St Teresa.

The problem started when the team from St Teresa decided to come a day earlier than their expected arrival. The tournament was going to start on 8 August, Wednesday, and the team was expected to arrive on 7 August Tuesday. Instead, they arrived on 6 August, Monday, since there was only one direct weekly train to the venue.

It wasn’t an unannounced arrival, though. They had informed the organisers, who had assured them of a place to stay. The team was, however, expected to manage food for themselves.

It was only after reaching the venue that the members realised that the assurance from the organisers were mere lip service, and their arrangements only meant dirty mattresses in a filthy room.

As expected, the team refused to stay at such an unhygienic place. But hotel or any hostel was also not an option, since the tournament is taking place in one of the remotest parts of Bankura. The only hotel available in the region couldn’t accommodate the entire team.

The coach, considering the safety of the team, took the girls to the stadium, where officials opened one of the offices. While eight girls slept in the office, the rest and the coach slept on the benches in the stadium.

If the off-field inconvenience wasn’t enough, team Darjeeling had to deal with miseries on the field too. First, it was a football field which mirrored a paddy field at the venue. Later, during the match, it was incompetent officiating which cost them the quarter-final 1-0 to Burdwan. The referee’s howlers were so evident that even the crowd booed her.

This wasn’t the first time that the Subroto Cup attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. Shoddy and unhealthy living conditions for players have been a regular feature.