DYES FC continues to make mockery of Karnataka football

Bengaluru: A week after fielding just 10 players, and in the absence of their entire coaching staff, the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports Football Club (DYES FC) continued the same negligence in a 0-9 drubbing by BTM FC in the BDFA A Division League Championship at the BFS on Thursday. 

DH reported on February 11 that DYES FC fielded 10 players in a 0-11 loss to table toppers Stride Sports FC while their head coach Shanthi S was absent along with her support staff. The team did show up with a full squad for the next match (0-8 loss to Income Tax) on Feb 13 but it was again a no-show by the coach.

The 10 players, who showed up for the love of the game, travelled early morning over 300 kms from Bellary for the afternoon kick-off and were provided with no food and water during their journey. While some missed the match due to their ongoing PU exams, many decided not to travel due to the continued absence of the coaching staff as they feel the team is not serious about playing.  

Adding to travelling players' woes, they had no choice but to play the entire 90 minutes and had nobody to fetch them water during the water breaks and halftime. Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA) officials, who have other jobs to handle, had to help them instead. 

The team has now dropped into the relegation zone with just seven points in 13 games and must win their last match against Roots FS on Feb 24 to avoid demotion to the B division.

It's worth noting that the organisers, BDFA — which falls under the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) — can't be faulted for letting DYES play as a team is allowed to play as long as they field a minimum of seven players on the field at kick-off, as per FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB).

A senior KSFA official, meanwhile, expressed his concern about the incident, saying DYES FC have been habitually negligent. 

"It's unfortunate for a government team but they are the team who are always behind schedule," said the official. "They will not renew the affiliation on time, they will not field the team on time, they will not complete the CSR registration on time as well."

Neither the calls nor the text messages elicit any response from head coach Shanthi on her absence.

However, DYES commissioner Chethan R confirmed that they were taking action against the coach and added that the team would field a complete squad for the next match. 

Meanwhile, BTM FC kept themselves in the hunt for promotion to Super Division with the big win as they continue to fight it out with Technico FF, who moved to third with both sides tied on 29 points, while the latter has the advantage of playing a match less. 

Results: A Division: BTM FC: 9 (Sochan Shatsang 8th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 65th, Subhesh K 42nd, Devaraj J 44th, Dhanesh Vasanth 71st, Mohammad Gurfan 90th) bt DYES FC: 0; Bangalore Eagles FC: 1 (Rechans Shimrah 28th) drew with AGORC FC: 1 (P Kiran Raj 54th).

B Division: Group A: Empire FC: 3 (MangkhoLet Haokip 52nd, Muhammad Ijas M 39th, Sanjeev Noronha 55th) bt Al Fateh FC: 0; Pillanna Garden FC: 1 (Gasper Anthony 8th) bt Vehicles FC: 0.