The day began early at 7.45am with the hoisting of our National Flag and singing of our National Anthem
The alumni of St. Mary's (ISC), Holy Family HS Andheri and St. Stanislaus HS Bandra assembled at St. Stanislaus HS Bandra to celebrate our Independence Day with gusto. Jesuit school rivalries were re-ignited on the football field when grown men turned boys once again and played some very entertaining football.
Matches were 20 minutes per half with no half time and rolling substitutions. St. Mary’s (ISC) fielded an "A" and "B" team. The first match was played between the very strong and experienced St. Mary's "A" and a young Holy Family. The class of St. Mary's was evident in the 6-1 score line. The next match was played between St. Stanislaus and St. Mary's "B". The young Marians were no match for the very fast and skillful Stanislites who won 5-1. The match for the third place was played between St. Mary's "B" and Holy Family. The match was fast and evenly fought till Holy Family broke the deadlock and went on to score two more before St. Mary's "B" pulled one back.
The stage was now set for the final between St. Mary's "A" and St. Stanislaus. St. Mary's immediately realized that they had a tough match on hand and played some uncompromising football. The match was most evenly poised till some delightful passing between the Stanislite forwards resulted in the first goal. St. Mary's fought back and they pressed forward and were foiled by some good goal keeping and the goal post. The second half began at a fast pace and gradually the St. Stanislaus mid-field pressed forward and the Stanislites missed a number of easy chances. On the day, St. Stanislaus emerged the deserving winners. They thus ended the unbeaten streak of St. Mary's (ISC) of the last three years.
After the matches, all on-field aggro was forgotten as the four teams swam in the school pool and then had a hearty lunch and beverages in the school lunch room.
Province:
- Bombay (Mumbai)
City:
- Mumbai