The recently concluded SRCC Festival of Youth Sports saw two heavyweights, Sri Ram College of Commerce and Sri Venkateswara College, face off in a hotly contested final.
The high intensity game saw the hosts SRCC win 1-0, with the solitary goal being scored at the half hour mark by Kunal. The high-octane match unfortunately was highlighted by a controversial fight which ensued among the players and the staff management in the second half.
The incident took place when a tackle by SRCC Captain Ashutosh on Kushagra Rastogi of Venky resulted in an ugly fight between the two players. Soon enough, the other players as well as the SRCC alumni, who had come to watch the match, got involved in a brawl. Finally the coaches intervened and sorted the situation but could not prevent a red card each to Ashutosh and Kushagra. The incident blemished the final as the incident was talked about more than the match itself. Ashutosh though was cheered by the home crowd after being given the marching orders.
When enquired about the incident, Kushagra Rastogi said, “Aggression when overflows results in flaring conflicts off the ball. That being said the opposition player who was involved was, from the start, antagonising me, like stepping on my boots, giving sliding tackles without cause to win the ball. What triggered the outburst was when we were a goal down and I was tackled yet again from behind and the rest as we know is history”.
Although Ashutosh could not be reached, another SRCC player who did not wish to be named said, “It was a spur of the moment thing. Kushagra is a talented player but Venky players should not have messed with the captain and should have respected him.”
Shashank Gupta
shashank@dubeat.com
![empty_stadiums[3]](http://dubeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/empty_stadiums31-50x50.jpg "empty_stadiums[3]")
1 comment
Stand_up_speak_upa says:
Feb 8, 2012
I just cannot understand why all this happened. What was the need for the alumni to barge into the field and exhibit such disgraceful acts of hooliganism? A better question would be, what was the need for the alumni to help SRCC organize the fest in the first place? Are the students not capable enough?
The storming of the field and the ‘mob’ mentality that was on display, is a serious cause for concern. This was the last thing that was expected out of the ‘elite’ students of SRCC. It was probably an act of venting out the frustration by the alumni, of having underperformed during their time in college. Whatever it was, it is condemnable. It just brings out the elements of bad event management and a total lack of security and responsibility, as far as the host college is concerned.