Time for Change at Goan Inter-village football
Inter-village football was once Goa’s lifeline. Not anymore. Some agree some disagree. But what has not diminished over the years is its importance and the entertainment value it has in all the Goan villages. It still thrives in the villages, thanks to the passion and generosity of Goans who would go at lengths to keep it kicking around. Having an inter village final on the village feast day of the patron saint has been a long established tradition in the former Portuguese colony.
Over the years the nature and composition of the inter-village tournaments has undergone several changes over the years. Some for the good , some for the worse. Time to weed out the bad and retain the best. Is Goa football Association ready for the much needed facelift which the Goan Inter-village football cries for?
An in-depth perusal of the functioning of the inter-village clubs and tournaments suggest that the arrangements in place have become outdated and long lost its value in terms of grooming the next generation of youngsters. Most Inter-village tournaments and inter-village clubs are not ready for the next generation leap.
If Goa takes pride in being one of the leading lights of football in the country then the basics have to be strong.
WHAT CONSITUTES GOAN INTER-VILALGE FOOTBALL
A Goan inter-village team was earlier a purely village team – players born or brought up from a particular village only could play for the village, others were termed as hired bulls. The tournaments frequency was more during the summer months when Mumbai-based Goan families descended into Goa for vacation. Some of the Goan based in Mumbai and those studying in different schools and colleges in Belgaum, Mumbai, Karwar also got their share of opportunities to turn out for their village teams on the recommendations of some of the senior players during that period.
Mind you there were no identity cards and the player’s identity and affiliation were all based on honesty. The entire village use to come in full force to cheer the boys. If Mumbai-based Basilo Menezes, a former Tata Sports Club player was a craze among the bare footed footballers of his generation playing for Cuncolim team, there were many other heroes for young Levino Dias and Menezes was one of them. The short-stature Cuncolim-born coach who went to win many laurels as a player and coach.
Yes ,if my village Cuncolim abounds with stories of valour and courage in the fight against the colonial rule, in the same vein it was notorious for being bad losers, especially to neigbouring villages of Assolna and Chinchinim.
Coming to the present age, violence and crowd disruption has no place for it and adequate sanctions are in place to take care of that.
Thanks to GFA the mayhem and confusion has been given a back seat in the 80’s when the bad blood of inter-village football, floodlight tournaments were banned. Events which had a history of fights and a lot alcohol related problems for the players, coaches, and officials.
That was some fifteen years back. Thereafter the village lines were redrawn and a number of villages or an entire Taluka was considered as one village in a bid to give players not getting a chance to play for a particular village having now multiple options at his disposal. Some villages clubs took advantage of the rule, which is still prevalent even today.
But the multiple options has not satisfied the ego and greed of certain club officials, they have started restoring to dubious means to registered non-village players, as players of their village.
Some of the club officials are holding top executive posts in GFA.
Take my village Cuncolim as an example, a municipal town, under the present inter-village rules, players from Balli village and Fatorpa village can play for Cuncolim inter village clubs, but instead what we find the village team is a mixture of players drawn from Navelim, Ambaulim, Velim and Betul villages and I see a day not far off when the original Cuncolim players will be wiped away from the team rooster in the coming years. Talent abounds, but how to tap and groom them, only a few know how to handle it.
If some Save-Goa activists are crying foul that village demographics are changing, due to mega-housing projects here in my village, the so-called football promoters are digging trenches and hurdles of a worst kind for young footballers.
The process of circumventing the legal provisions is with the full knowledge of the administrative hands at GFA. Turn a blind eye. Yes indeed they have to turn a blind eye not to just to their own officials doing but also to several other clubs who have now picked up the dubious ways. What I find absurd is GFA officials are still insisting on Ration Cards as proof of residence.
The same document which is tampered and manipulated with the aid of the government officials. It is high time the GFA makes a secondary document like Election Card (EPIC) necessary document to put an end to the practice which is ruining Goan football.
So the Goan inter-village football is no longer a true picture of the olden day inter-village team but one would say a Goan club like the big names Dempo’s , Salgaocar, the only thing which survives is the village based name which it carries.
In the next post we will discuss how floating the rules helps the inter-village clubs officials -PRIZE MONEY AND ECONOMICS OF INTER VILLAGE FOOTBALL.
Over the years the nature and composition of the inter-village tournaments has undergone several changes over the years. Some for the good , some for the worse. Time to weed out the bad and retain the best. Is Goa football Association ready for the much needed facelift which the Goan Inter-village football cries for?
An in-depth perusal of the functioning of the inter-village clubs and tournaments suggest that the arrangements in place have become outdated and long lost its value in terms of grooming the next generation of youngsters. Most Inter-village tournaments and inter-village clubs are not ready for the next generation leap.
If Goa takes pride in being one of the leading lights of football in the country then the basics have to be strong.
WHAT CONSITUTES GOAN INTER-VILALGE FOOTBALL
A Goan inter-village team was earlier a purely village team – players born or brought up from a particular village only could play for the village, others were termed as hired bulls. The tournaments frequency was more during the summer months when Mumbai-based Goan families descended into Goa for vacation. Some of the Goan based in Mumbai and those studying in different schools and colleges in Belgaum, Mumbai, Karwar also got their share of opportunities to turn out for their village teams on the recommendations of some of the senior players during that period.
Mind you there were no identity cards and the player’s identity and affiliation were all based on honesty. The entire village use to come in full force to cheer the boys. If Mumbai-based Basilo Menezes, a former Tata Sports Club player was a craze among the bare footed footballers of his generation playing for Cuncolim team, there were many other heroes for young Levino Dias and Menezes was one of them. The short-stature Cuncolim-born coach who went to win many laurels as a player and coach.
Yes ,if my village Cuncolim abounds with stories of valour and courage in the fight against the colonial rule, in the same vein it was notorious for being bad losers, especially to neigbouring villages of Assolna and Chinchinim.
Coming to the present age, violence and crowd disruption has no place for it and adequate sanctions are in place to take care of that.
Thanks to GFA the mayhem and confusion has been given a back seat in the 80’s when the bad blood of inter-village football, floodlight tournaments were banned. Events which had a history of fights and a lot alcohol related problems for the players, coaches, and officials.
That was some fifteen years back. Thereafter the village lines were redrawn and a number of villages or an entire Taluka was considered as one village in a bid to give players not getting a chance to play for a particular village having now multiple options at his disposal. Some villages clubs took advantage of the rule, which is still prevalent even today.
But the multiple options has not satisfied the ego and greed of certain club officials, they have started restoring to dubious means to registered non-village players, as players of their village.
Some of the club officials are holding top executive posts in GFA.
Take my village Cuncolim as an example, a municipal town, under the present inter-village rules, players from Balli village and Fatorpa village can play for Cuncolim inter village clubs, but instead what we find the village team is a mixture of players drawn from Navelim, Ambaulim, Velim and Betul villages and I see a day not far off when the original Cuncolim players will be wiped away from the team rooster in the coming years. Talent abounds, but how to tap and groom them, only a few know how to handle it.
If some Save-Goa activists are crying foul that village demographics are changing, due to mega-housing projects here in my village, the so-called football promoters are digging trenches and hurdles of a worst kind for young footballers.
The process of circumventing the legal provisions is with the full knowledge of the administrative hands at GFA. Turn a blind eye. Yes indeed they have to turn a blind eye not to just to their own officials doing but also to several other clubs who have now picked up the dubious ways. What I find absurd is GFA officials are still insisting on Ration Cards as proof of residence.
The same document which is tampered and manipulated with the aid of the government officials. It is high time the GFA makes a secondary document like Election Card (EPIC) necessary document to put an end to the practice which is ruining Goan football.
So the Goan inter-village football is no longer a true picture of the olden day inter-village team but one would say a Goan club like the big names Dempo’s , Salgaocar, the only thing which survives is the village based name which it carries.
In the next post we will discuss how floating the rules helps the inter-village clubs officials -PRIZE MONEY AND ECONOMICS OF INTER VILLAGE FOOTBALL.
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