There was mild confusion at the SUB Pitch on Monday, 16th October, 2023, as the Microbiology team failed to show up for their Round Of 16 Seals Cup Fixture against MBBS resulting in the subsequent postponement to Tuesday, 17th of October, 2023.
The MBBS team had arrived around 3:40 PM in preparation for the match which was scheduled to hold by 4:30 PM. However, to their surprise, by 4:48 PM, after the conclusion of the preceding fixture between Sociology and Industrial Production Engineering, there was no sign of either the Microbiology players or indication from the match officials that the match would hold. Upon approaching one of the match officials, Coach of the UIMSA team, Mark Obeya, was informed that the match had been postponed.
This led to confusion and rancour on the pitch, with observers and fans alike, taking to the pitch to register their displeasure. Members of the Seals Cup Planning Committee appeared to engage the UIMSA coach and players, pleading for a postponement till Wednesday. They explained that the Microbiology team were unavailable due to a field trip and had indicated this earlier. However, they had failed to check the message, resulting in the mix-up. Their explanation appeared to be poorly received by the increasing on-field crowd.
When asked to give a direct comment to the Press, all three members of the committee present on the pitch declined. In one incident, a member of the committee yelled at a representative of Indy Press, leading to further unrest from the crowd who had gathered to observe proceedings.
A look into the rules as announced during the Press Conference of September 26, 2023, shows that “postponement of a match should only be in the event of a test and must be presented to the organising committee a minimum of 24 hours prior”. Also, according to rule 7 of the Official Competition Handbook, “Teams must be on standby at least 15 minutes before the game. Lateness equals walkover“. However, players from the Microbiology team on the UI SU-run WhatsApp group, Seals Cup Banter Group, claimed that complaints had been made on the official Seals Cup Group for representatives as early as Friday and Sunday, with accompanying screenshots serving as their evidence to the fact.
Both sides finally reached an agreement around 6:37 PM to postpone till 5:15 PM the following day.
Speaking with the UIMSA Press, Daniel, a 500-Level UIMSAite who had transported himself down from Alexander Brown Hall, said about the occurrence, “This is very abnormal especially with the rules they had laid down for the competition. How will you say that a 24 hour notice was required and then a team will come for their match and you just say something different? It makes no sense”. Coach, Mark Obeya, couldn’t hide his displeasure, saying, “It is wrong. The rules are clear and then the reason for their absence is funny seeing as they were originally to come for the match. It was only a small group of people in a particular class having a field trip. And they were going to play the match until they found out that the chemistry match was postponed”.
It should be noted that this is not the first controversy with regard to the scheduling of matches. Psychology VS Chemistry was scheduled to hold earlier today and ended up being shifted to 5PM on Wednesday. Also, a game involving Geography had allegedly been postponed just two hours to kick-off.
Eriomala John.