May is hardly the ideal time to visit India, with high temperatures and the extreme humidity of an approaching monsoon season making it uncomfortable at best.
It is also not the most desirable time to play football.
Nevertheless, this is when the annual two-day Maharashtra State AFL India championships take place.
Six senior teams, the Lions, Giants, Bombers, Eagles, Tigers and Cats, and two junior squads, the Swans and Kangaroos, took part in the championships.
In both junior matches the Swans definitively beat the Kangaroos, while five senior teams played off in the finals.
Prior to the finals' rounds, tournament officials conducted a special match between the Mumbai All Stars, a mix of players from each of the senior teams and an expats team, led by Australian Trade Commissioner Tom Calder, who is currently based in Mumbai and a long-time promoter of AFL in India.
While the expats dealt the All Stars a 64 to 23 lesson, the most notable thing about the match was the huge improvement in the standard of the local players’ skills.
Despite being without their captain Lalu, who broke his forearm in the national championships in November, the Charni Road Eagles dominated the finals fixtures.
With Mayur playing the role of skipper, the Eagles defeated the Bombers 55 to 12 in the first semi-final before holding off an inspired Tigers’ outfit 34 to 21 in the grand final.
As always, the championships finished on a high, with all competing players – winners and losers – celebrating as if they had all won a premiership flag.
First semi-final: Eagles 55 def Bombers 12
Second semi-final: Tigers 16 def Lions 8
Grand Final: Eagles 34 def Tigers 21
