By Alberto Colaco
Whenever the Goa state team or even the clubs perform dismally at national or inter-club tournaments, the print and social media bombard us with a barrage of opinions from a wide range of football experts. In a democratic set up, everyone is entitled to express their views, and even though we may not subscribe to them, they have to be respected.
Goa’s current dismal performance in the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy has, as expected, evoked the usual outpouring, of views and assessments from innumerable Goan football followers. This will continue for some time, and with public memory being short, it will be forgotten by everyone. When AIFF announces the dates for the Santosh Trophy, the Goa Football Association (GFA) will frantically start looking for a coach, and, more often than not, appoint someone who has neither seen either the junior or senior players in the GFA leagues.
In the present format, the AIFF does not allow players participating in the ISL and I-League to play for their state in the Santosh Trophy. Goa has over fifty players in these two leagues. They have been deprived of an opportunity to represent Goa. Similar is the case with states like West Bengal, Manipur, Kerala and Mizoram. These states have also failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the ongoing Santosh Trophy. But instead of grudging the changes in the regulations governing the eligibility of players to represent the state, this can be used to our advantage.
There can be two main reasons for AIFF to introduce the regulations depriving the players playing in the I-League and the ISL from representing their home state in the Santosh Trophy: i) not to disturb the ISL and I-League tournaments and ii) to give young players an opportunity to represent their states and provide them with a platform to display their talent on a bigger stage. I think this is where the GFA has not utilised the changes in the eligibility regulations, to give talented youngsters a chance to play for the state.
Although winning the Santosh Trophy does not have the aura it had before, most of the football fans consider a good performance in the Santosh Trophy as the benchmark of the football standard in the state.
The hype around the tournament puts a lot of pressure on the association and the coaches, who prefer to rely on the old warhorses, who, it must be said, have served the state, their clubs and even sometimes the national team, with distinction in the past. With their best years behind them, they are not able to perform at the required level, specially when they have to play five matches in 10 days.
The results are obviously not according to the expectations of the association and the football fans.
It is obvious from the results in the last few years that besides not winning the tournament, we have failed to produce players who will graduate to the bigger clubs and then gain and hold a regular place in the national team. It is unfortunate that with the exception of Liston Colaco and Brandon Fernandes, no other Goan has a regular place in the national team.
Not being able to field the best players in the state, in the team playing in the Santosh Trophy, is not a new situation. When the National Football League (NFL) started, the Santosh Trophy was slotted between the NFL qualifying and final rounds. Dempo SC, Salgaocar SC and Churchill Brothers, having qualified for the final rounds of the NFL, were reluctant to release their players for the Santosh Trophy preparatory camp and the final team.
Having foreseen that this situation may arise, GFA decided to select around 30 young players from the remaining teams and conduct practice sessions for them every Sunday. This decision paid off, and for the Santosh Trophy in 1997, GFA selected a team consisting predominantly of the players taking part in this program. This so-called second-string team performed exceedingly well and lost to a full Bengal side by a solitary goal in the final. Many upcoming players came from this program and they formed the core of the Goa state and club teams in the late nineties and the early part of the 21st century.
Nothing can be achieved overnight. It is most important to have very competitive leagues, both at the top and youth level, with players getting an opportunity to play a sufficient number of matches. It is an undeniable fact that the standard of the Goa Pro League has gone down, and at the youth level, the number of matches played are is grossly inadequate.
It is the responsibility of GFA to bring the GFDC, the big and the small stakeholders, together to draw a common football development program for Goa. Unfortunately, sometimes, it appears that these entities work at cross purposes. Specially at the youth level, it is more important to produce quality players than to win competitions. A special committee, with clear terms of reference has to be constituted and entrusted with this task.
Those chosen to lead this very important assignment must recognise that they are fortunate to be assigned with this enormous responsibility and to always remember that in their hands lies the destiny of our budding football players and Goan football.
(The writer is former general secretary of AIFF and secretary of GFA for 14 years between 1981 and 2011)
Whenever the Goa state team or even the clubs perform dismally at national or inter-club tournaments, the print and social media bombard us with a barrage of opinions from a wide range of football experts. In a democratic set up, everyone is entitled to express their views, and even though we may not subscribe to them, they have to be respected.
Goa’s current dismal performance in the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy has, as expected, evoked the usual outpouring, of views and assessments from innumerable Goan football followers. This will continue for some time, and with public memory being short, it will be forgotten by everyone. When AIFF announces the dates for the Santosh Trophy, the Goa Football Association (GFA) will frantically start looking for a coach, and, more often than not, appoint someone who has neither seen either the junior or senior players in the GFA leagues.
In the present format, the AIFF does not allow players participating in the ISL and I-League to play for their state in the Santosh Trophy. Goa has over fifty players in these two leagues. They have been deprived of an opportunity to represent Goa. Similar is the case with states like West Bengal, Manipur, Kerala and Mizoram. These states have also failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the ongoing Santosh Trophy. But instead of grudging the changes in the regulations governing the eligibility of players to represent the state, this can be used to our advantage.
Although winning the Santosh Trophy does not have the aura it had before, most of the football fans consider a good performance in the Santosh Trophy as the benchmark of the football standard in the state.
The hype around the tournament puts a lot of pressure on the association and the coaches, who prefer to rely on the old warhorses, who, it must be said, have served the state, their clubs and even sometimes the national team, with distinction in the past. With their best years behind them, they are not able to perform at the required level, specially when they have to play five matches in 10 days.
The results are obviously not according to the expectations of the association and the football fans.
It is obvious from the results in the last few years that besides not winning the tournament, we have failed to produce players who will graduate to the bigger clubs and then gain and hold a regular place in the national team. It is unfortunate that with the exception of Liston Colaco and Brandon Fernandes, no other Goan has a regular place in the national team.
Not being able to field the best players in the state, in the team playing in the Santosh Trophy, is not a new situation. When the National Football League (NFL) started, the Santosh Trophy was slotted between the NFL qualifying and final rounds. Dempo SC, Salgaocar SC and Churchill Brothers, having qualified for the final rounds of the NFL, were reluctant to release their players for the Santosh Trophy preparatory camp and the final team.
Having foreseen that this situation may arise, GFA decided to select around 30 young players from the remaining teams and conduct practice sessions for them every Sunday. This decision paid off, and for the Santosh Trophy in 1997, GFA selected a team consisting predominantly of the players taking part in this program. This so-called second-string team performed exceedingly well and lost to a full Bengal side by a solitary goal in the final. Many upcoming players came from this program and they formed the core of the Goa state and club teams in the late nineties and the early part of the 21st century.
Nothing can be achieved overnight. It is most important to have very competitive leagues, both at the top and youth level, with players getting an opportunity to play a sufficient number of matches. It is an undeniable fact that the standard of the Goa Pro League has gone down, and at the youth level, the number of matches played are is grossly inadequate.
It is the responsibility of GFA to bring the GFDC, the big and the small stakeholders, together to draw a common football development program for Goa. Unfortunately, sometimes, it appears that these entities work at cross purposes. Specially at the youth level, it is more important to produce quality players than to win competitions. A special committee, with clear terms of reference has to be constituted and entrusted with this task.
Those chosen to lead this very important assignment must recognise that they are fortunate to be assigned with this enormous responsibility and to always remember that in their hands lies the destiny of our budding football players and Goan football.
(The writer is former general secretary of AIFF and secretary of GFA for 14 years between 1981 and 2011)
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