A football tournament was the highlight of the alumni meet of Hariyana Vidya Mandir. The games took place at BA-CA grounds and ex-students got to play their hearts out.

The tournament, which took place before the second wave of the pandemic, began with 10 teams divided into two groups of five, each drawn in the round robin format. Every team had to play a match against each of the opponents. Two teams from each group progressed to the semi-finals where the highest-ranked team from a group would face the second-placed team from the other group. Each half consisted of 10 minutes with a two-minute break in-between. There were to be eight on-field players inclusive of the goalkeeper along with two substitutes which made each team have 10 players in all.

The Sunday chosen for the tournament was too sunny and it led to teams taking longer breaks, thereby compromising the time for the semi-finals and the final. Due to the falling daylight, each half of the semi-finals and final was reduced by three minutes, leading to 14-minute matches.

In the first semi-final, Yellow Claus tied with Hustler FC on full time as well as on penalties and so the tie was decided by a toss of coin. Yellow Claus won the toss and progressed to the final. In the second semi-final, Hellraisers FC scored from a free-kick in the first half to defeat Matador FC 1-0 and make it to the final.

While most of the alumni expected an early breakthrough in the final, both teams focused on ball possession. The first half saw Yellow Claus and Hellraisers FC making directed or lob passes. The second half increased the pressure on both sides to score and both were attacking through long balls but making defensive clearances when pressed. However like the first semi-final, this match too went to the penalties as the regulation time ended goalless.

The penalty shootout was confined to three spot kicks. Hellraisers FC started by taking the first kick but it was a miss. Much to their dismay, Yellow Claus scored and were leading. The second kicks drew the teams level as Hellraisers FC scored and Yellow Claus missed.

While the kick-taker from Hellraisers FC aimed for the upper centre, he put too much power on the ball which made it go over the bar. Yellow Claus needed one scoring kick to win and the penalty-taker slowly walked in, maintained his focus and took the shot making the ball hit the back of the net. Yellow Claus thus won the game on penalties, which had a scoreline of 2-1.

Shubharthee Saha, the captain and goalkeeper of Yellow Claus, was happy with his team’s performance especially in the penalty shootout. “I could anticipate the direction of the first kick even before the run-up by looking at the player’s eyes and that made me save the shot. We all know how important a save is,” said Saha, who was also named Goalkeeper of the Tournament and the Man of the Match in the final.

Captain of Hellraisers FC, Shouvik Saha, with the runners- up trophy Aniket Sil

Vice-captain of Hellraisers FC, Souradip Basu, was also one of the organisers of the tournament. That the event could take place in the midst of a pandemic itself, he felt, was a success.

“We had stipulated clear rules that an alumnus needs to have studied in Hariyana Vidya Mandir for at least two years to be a part of any team. There was a situation when a participant’s schooling in Hariyana Vidya Mandir was challenged and we had to ring up his mother to resolve the dispute. But in the end, all that matters is fun and we were glad to see such wonderful team chemistry despite not having played together for years,” said Basu, a resident of CA Block who is popularly known as Jiko, reminiscent of Brazilian football legend Zico.

A lot of ex-students turned up to cheer for their friends who were playing. One such was Ritwika Bhadury, who wore yellow to show support for her friends playing for Yellow Claus. “While it was exciting to meet up friends, it’s true that it was a bit of a risk. Most of us came by public transport and as the games got more exciting, many masks were getting pulled below the chin to yell in support,” confessed Bhadury, a 2016 passout.