High spirits, nostalgia, the debut of a women’s game and new champions. The eighth season of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education Alumni Association’s (SAIE) football tournament was full of action. The tournament, Auro Premier League (APL), was held at IB Park. It was open to SAIE students past and present and the 12 teams were divided into four groups from which the top teams would qualify for the semi-finals. In the group stage, the highest scoring match was from group B when Majestic United FC faced Aztec FC. Subhranuj Podder, MUFC, scored the only hat-trick of the tournament in this match, which eventually led him to the top scorer of the tournament award. Pranshu Malo, a Class XI student, found the back of the net once to hand MUFC a 4-0 win. Although initially it was Aztec FC taking charge of the match, a brilliant corner kick from Shibasish Chowdhury gifted Podder with an open header leading to the first goal of the match. Thereafter, it was completely a one-sided affair. In the next match, in the group C opener, debutants United FC managed to steal a point against Doraemon FC (Previously Venom FC) although DFC were the better team on paper. Remainder of the group stage matches went as per predictions until Shinchan FC faced MUFC in the group B decider. SFC needed all three points from this match to qualify to the semi-finals and having entered the tournament as one of the strongest teams, they were expected to top the group. Girija Shankar Mohanto, SFC, found the back of the net moments before the first-half whistle but within the next couple minutes, Abhranuj Podder, MUFC, equalised and the whistle was blown with the scores level at 1-1. In the second half, SFC went full offensive in search of their winning goal but a tremendous defensive display from the back three of MUFC, Sayan Jana, Krishnakaran Paswan and Pranshu Malo, kept the scores level until the final whistle. Against all odds, MUFC qualified for the semi finals as group B toppers, to face OBDS (Old Boys De SAIE), group D toppers. FUFC (Friends United Football Club), group A toppers, were facing their eternal rivals, AFC (Athletes Football Club), group C toppers, in the first semi-final. In the past seven editions of APL, AFC had always managed to get the better of FUFC but this time, things seemed to be different as FUFC’s latest signing, Souradip Mazumder managed the send the ball past the goalkeeper to give his team a 1-0 lead. Soumyadipta Paul, AFC, managed to score an equaliser to take the match to the tie-breakers where both the sides managed to score all the penalties until the shot from AFC’s Sagnik Banerjee went wide above the cross bar to send FUFC into the final, gifting them their first-ever win against AFC. In the second semi-final an ultra defensive display from OBDS saw them take MUFC to the tie-breakers as well, where they managed to scrape past MUFC, after their captain, Diptarka Pal, took it upon himself to be the goalkeeper for the tie-breaker and saved two crucial penalties.
Gender bender
Before the final, an exhibition match was held between the female players of SAIE who represent their school in the various women’s inter-school football tournaments. This step was taken to promote sports among the youth, irrespective of gender. SAIE sports teacher, Rakesh Ghosh, and principal, Antony Das, in association with SAIE Alumni Association, played big roles in bringing this all-women’s match to life. “The students playing here today are all like my children. And when you teach sports to your children, you do not discriminate based on their gender. Having these extremely talented girls represent our school on the big stages is a matter of utmost pride for me,” said Ghosh. In the final match between OBDS and FUFC, a terrific defensive performance from OBDS was starting to frustrate a dominant FUFC attack from finding the back of the net but a foul from an OBDS defender inside their own penalty box led to the referee pointing to the spot. Sayantan Saha calmly converted the penalty to score the only goal of the match and fulfill FUFC’s eight-year wait for the trophy. As tears of joy ran down the cheeks of the FUFC players, the OBDS players couldn’t get over the fact that they tried so hard but still lost out.
Winners all
Souvik Ganguly, from Supa Strikers, was awarded the emerging player of the tournament trophy. Subhranuj Podder received the top scorer award with three goals to his name. Saurish Gupta, MUFC, received the best goalkeeper of the tournament award for having conceded only one goal throughout the tournament. “I had faced a terrible accident a week back where my car flipped four times having crashed with a divider in a highway. My hand has still not recovered totally but knowing that my absence would create cost my team, I showed up anyway,” he said. “Receiving the Golden Gloves despite these injuries makes the pain worth it. Now I will have something to show my parents after having disobeyed their repeated warnings to not play in this condition,” Saurish said. Diptarka won the best player of the tournament award having led his team to the final for the first time since 2016. “It was special to receive this award amongst so many talented players. I feel age is just a number and awards assure me that I am still in shape and able to compete with these youngsters,” said the 2014 ISC pass out. Diptarka, captain of OBDS and Rahstri Saha, captain of FUFC, were handed their respective trophies to celebrate with their team. “I’m really happy to lift the trophy for the first time after seven years. APL has taught me that you should never give up on anything as failure is the tuition fees you pay for success,” Saha said. Sohan Kundu, general secretary, SAIE alumni association, was proud of the success that APL season 8 achieved. “Since 2015, APL has evolved from a friendly tournament for football-loving pass-outs to abridge among alumni. It is witnessing a surge in participation,” he said
