Shillong, Sep 28: The Shillong Sports Association’s Third Division football league will begin on 2nd October.
The league was meant to start on 1st August and then 17th August but those dates blew by. Now, SSA’s tournament committee has, in fact, revised its calendar for the Second Division, First Division and Shillong Premier League as well.
The Second and First Divisions are now scheduled to begin in the first and third weeks of November, while the SPL, which was meant to kick-off this month, will now only begin in December.
“The inconvenience caused is highly regretted due to unavoidable circumstances,” the SSA said in a letter to affiliated football clubs.
What those circumstances are was not mentioned but is likely to be grounds – although the SSA had hoped to utilise its own First Ground pitch this season, work on its drainage system is yet to be complete, which meant that football had to largely be played at Third Ground where the SSA’s ongoing Fourth Division competes for space with other football.
The Third Division will also be held at Third Ground, at least for now – only the first seven fixtures have been made public.
There are 21 participating teams in the Third Division this year and they have been divided into four groups of five, with Group A having an extra team. The bottom-placed team from each group will be relegated to next season’s Fourth Division, while the two teams that qualify for the final following the knockouts will be promoted to the Second Division.
Third Division groups:
Group A – Umlyngka SC, Lapalang SC, Krang SC, Nongmensong SC, Gorkha Association, Meghalaya Police
Group B – Nongkseh SC, Mawshbuit SC, PFR Football Academy, Pomlakrai SC, Mawryngkneng SC
Group C – Sanmer SC, Umpling SC, Mawpat SC, Mylliem Lum SC, Lumparing SC
Group D – Nongumlong SC, Lawmali Pyllun SC, Rynjah SC, Tynring SC, Lumdiengjri SC
First 7 fixtures (all at Third Ground):
2nd October – Krang vs Nongmensong, Group A, 4:45PM
3rd October – Umlyngka vs Lapalang, Group A, 5:15PM
4th October – Nongkseh vs Mawshbuit, Group B, 4:45PM
5th October – PFR Academy vs Pomlakrai, Group B, 5:15PM
6th October – Sanmer vs Umpling, Group C, 4:15PM
7th October – Mawpat vs Mylliem Lum, Group C, 2:30PM
7th October – Nongumlong vs Lawmali Pyllun, Group D, 4:30PM
(TSR represetative photo)
