MSSA: No physio or doctor for injured player

Bombay Scottish's Ryan Davar (left), who injured his arm during the U-16 Div-I semi-final against Cathedral and John Connon, is helped by a coach at Cooperage yesterday. Pics/ Suresh Karkera

The Mumbai Schools Sports Association's (MSSA) apathy was on full view yesterday when there was no physiotherapist to attend to a player from Bombay Scottish (Mahim). Ryan Davar suffered an injury to his hand after colliding with a Cathedral and John Connon (Fort) player during the U-16 Div-I semi-final tournament at Cooperage.

After seeing Ryan fall and in terrible pain, referee Ajay Kahar stopped the match and called for medical help. But shockingly, there was no physio or doctor to attend to the injured boy. There was no senior MSSA official either to take stock of the situation. The coaches of both teams, Sachin Panchal (Bombay Scottish) and Jayesh Solanki (Cathedral and John Connon) rushed to the player and helped him out of the ground, trying to administer first aid. Ryan's parents, who were present at the venue, then rushed him to Bombay Hospital.

Serious injury

"It looked very serious when he fell, so I stopped the match and tried to get some medical assistance but there was nobody to attend to him," referee Kahar told mid-day. Coach Panchal later told mid-day that Ryan has suffered an injury to his forearm. "Ryan's forearm is badly hurt. The doctors have put his arm in a plaster for now and asked him to do undergo a scan after a week to see the progress. Fortunately, it's not a serious injury," Panchal told mid-day.

Coaches disappointed

Sadly, this is not the first time there has been no physio for such matches. "On Saturday, during our match against Hansraj Morarji at the St Xavier's ground in Parel, one of our players, Varad Parab suffered a hairline fracture to his hand after a fall, but there was no physio there too. They [MSSA] don't care about the players. They are in a hurry to finish their tournaments anyhow because don't have a ground [the MSSA ground at Azad Maidan has been taken over by the govt for Metro work]," Stanislaus coach Roy Fernandes said.

MSSA's football secretary Sebastian Fernandes did not know about the incident till mid-day informed him, but was well aware that there was no physio at hand. "The physio informed me at the last minute that she will not be able to travel for today's matches due to heavy rain. She lives far away from the venue. Also, we [MSSA] had our Annual General Body meeting today, so I was busy with that," said Sebastian.

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