KERALA SCHOOL GAMES

Kerala School Games: Football injuries pile up as tight scheduling leaves no room for recovery

Around 1 pm on Saturday, the second half of the senior boys' football quarterfinal between Kasaragod and Ernakulam at the Panampilly Nagar School Ground was interrupted by an injury to a defender. The Kasaragod boy seemed in much pain as he was stretchered off and moved onto a school bench placed on the corridor of the main block adjacent to the ground. A doctor on site attended to him after a physio examined his left ankle and placed an ice pack. About 15 minutes later, he was taken to a hospital as he had suffered a possible ligament tear.

Meanwhile, two officials stationed outside the medical room diligently took notes. They mentioned the boy's name, his district, his concern, the doctor who attended, the time, and the prognosis. That was the 77th case on the notebook under November 9. Another boy, who suffered a shin injury, needed hospital care earlier. On November 8, the first day of competitions in the senior boys' category, 81 injuries were mentioned in the notebook. Over three days before that, when the Senior Girls' football matches were played at the same venue, at least 50 injuries were mentioned in a different notebook.

A medical team at the venue said there were contact injuries, which are common in football, but there were also muscle injuries, such as to the hamstring and the groin region, ankle sprains, and so on, which could be caused by fatigue, dehydration, etc. "Such injuries could happen if there isn't sufficient time for recovery between matches," said a medical team member requesting anonymity.

The officials said there was also a possibility of repetition of names as some players might have sought treatment on multiple days with minor injuries.

In the women's category, 12 matches were played between November 5 and 7. In the boys' category, 12 matches, including the first phase, the quarterfinals, and the semifinals, were played in the first two days. The final was scheduled for November 10. The boys' matches comprised two halves of 40 minutes each. On Saturday, Kasaragod, which won the fourth quarterfinals, was scheduled to play the second semifinal within another two hours.

"Most of these boys and girls don't play regularly on proper-sized football pitches. So when they play the state championship on a big ground, and there isn't sufficient time to recover, injuries will happen," said the coach of a boy's team. "One of the teams arranged for an ice bath; we couldn't arrange one. That could help to speed up the recovery to some extent," said a member of the team's coaching staff.

The General Education Department organised the football event as part of the Kerala School Games. An official with the Kerala Football Association (KFA) said its services were not sought for the conduct of the event. "I think a panel of physical education teachers must have done the scheduling. If we look at the positive side, it is commendable that they organised an event like this. But more breaks between matches would have been better. When the KFA organises junior or age-group events, it is spread across a week, with each team getting up to 36 hours between each fixture," said a senior official with the KFA.

Despite the significant number of injuries, an official on the organising committee of the football event at Panampilly Nagar maintained that sufficient breaks were provided for the participating teams. However, it is understood that the football organisers were instructed to complete the competition by the penultimate day of the Kerala School Games (November 10); that is, at least 25 matches in six days, including at noon.