Mumbai: Football training turns into nightmare as goalpost falls on teenager in Andheri

Chitrakoot grounds in Andheri West where the incident took place during a training session of LaLiga Football Schools India. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Football training turned traumatic for 13-year-old Nadir Khan who sustained injuries on his head, shoulder and leg after a goalpost fell on him. The incident took place when he was attending football lessons at Chitrakoot grounds in Andheri West run by India on Track as part of the prestigious LaLiga Football Schools on July 14.

His parents, who suspect the goalpost fell on Nadir during training as it was not anchored properly, have alleged negligence on the part of the institute while the managers claimed it was a freak accident and that the incident took place due to high wind speed.

The incident

Nadir's mother Irum Khan said that she and her sister-in-law had gone to a nearby supermarket when Nadir and his cousins were playing. "It was my sister-in-law who got a call from her son, asking us to rush back as Nadir was hurt. Initially, I thought it was a minor incident as neither the coach nor the manager called us. Meanwhile, my sister-in-law called Harsh Bhide, manager, who told us Nadir bumped into a goal post while running."

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Nadir Khan sustained several injuries and bruises on his face, forehead, back of the head, leg and shoulder

However, after the duo reached, other children told them that the goalpost fell on him when Nadir was playing as the goalkeeper. Citing that no one from the facility bothered to call her to inform her of the accident, Khan said, "They said they were busy attending to Nadir and knew that I was aware." She added, "My son had blacked out after the goalpost fell on him and regained consciousness after a few minutes."

No facilities

"It was only after we reached the ground that I saw Nadir's face and head were severely swollen and bruised. He was crying and wailing in pain, shivering from being completely soaked in the rain. But they didn't have anything to cover him with. In fact, there were no chairs for him to sit on and Nadir's cousin had to jump through a window to get a chair. The cabin where the first aid kit was kept was locked. They did not even have ice and a staff had to go out looking for ice," Khan said.

She added, "This was only the third training session for my son and he was very excited about learning at the LaLiga Football Schools, but what followed was a stressful and traumatic journey of painkillers, scans, and tests." Nadir was rushed to Kokilaben hospital, where he underwent a medical examination and was treated for his injuries before being sent home.

A screengrab from the CCTV footage of the incident

Different stories

Khan said the explanations given by the staff at the training centre did not match with that of Nadir and other kids. "So, I told them that I needed to know how my son was hit as he was still in trauma and the doctors needed to know what happened. After they shared the CCTV footage, I saw how the goalpost fell on him," she said.

"Initially they had told me the rope holding up the goalpost snapped, but later said it happened because it was too windy. Why isn't the equipment checked regularly? Why conduct classes if you're ill-equipped for rains," Khan asked.

‘No negligence on our part'
Vivek Sethia, CEO of India on Track which is the official partner of LaLiga Football Schools India, denied allegations of negligence and said it was a freak accident. Sethia told mid-day, "I came down from Delhi to Mumbai and did a full incident report. I even met the parents of the boy. We followed full protocol and standard operating procedure (SoP). We double checked and did not find any problem with the installation of the goal post. We even shared the CCTV footage with them. We did not hide or try to cover up the incident. We have been transparent about this since the beginning. It is unfortunate that the boy was injured during the training session, but it was not due to negligence from our side. The goalpost fell due to wind."

When asked about why a first aid kit was not available at the time of the incident, Sethia said, "The room containing first aid kit and ice was locked since the person in charge had gone to the restroom. And we did not rush him to the hospital because the staff thought his parents would come and take him to a hospital of their choice. There was an incident earlier where the parents wanted to take their child to a specific hospital."