SESA FOOTBALL ACADEMY CLOSING? A.Veronica Fernandes Candolim, Goa. Ph: +91-7507394349. averonicaf...@hotmail.com
I was deeply shocked and disturbed to read the sad news in Goa's Herald newspaper, dated April 4, 2015, regarding the "closure of Sesa Football Academy". After the disbanding of its soccer team a few years back, the great name of the great sport called soccer was still glorified by Sesa running its football academy, thus continuing the company's service to developing soccer in Goa. At one time, the Sesa soccer team was one that had garnered name and fame, not only in Goa but all over India as well. It was officially initiated and formed in 1965, when Sesa Goa registered itself in the second division league tournament conducted by the Goa Football Association in its Bardez segment. Having failed to qualify for first division in its inception year under the skippership of Andrew Machado, it recruited some of the best players for its second attempt in 1966. This was under the captaincy of Jose Marie Fernandes. Mr. Conzen, the great promoter and lover of soccer, a German national working for Sesa at Sircaim, was the brain behind the formation of Sesa soccer team. As a young Arpora schoolboy, I was one of the recruits of Sesa. Herculano Dourado -- who went on to become a politician and legistor at the Goa assembly -- was also a young Bastora College boy and another recruit taken on a contract basis -- only to play football for Sesa. The rest of the players were all employees of Sesa company. In that year we came out into our own, putting Mazagon Dock, Vasco, to the second spot and thus qualifying for the senior division. That year we received good coaching under the Patiala qualified coach Iqbal, who was a very strict disciplinarian and a good tactician too. It was because of his coaching incidentally that I became, in that year itself, the fastest runner of Goa and also an individual champion of Goa at the All Goa Interschool Athletics Meet. In those years, to play for the mighty Sesa soccer team -- in a Goa context -- was akin to playing for Real Madrid! It was a honour and prestige to play for Sesa Goa then. When we entered the senior division, Sesa was a mighty team and in its first year itself in the senior division Sesa won the League championship. Immediately we were invited to participate in the outstation tournaments mainly in the South where Sesa won many tournaments. Within a short time Sesa became a household name in the South and some of its footballers were not only loved by the local fans there but were also mobbed even in the market places. During those days Sesa Goa had in its rank some of the finest players of Goa, the overwhelming majority of them being Goans as Sesa's European top management preferred Goans. Some of the best players who played for Sesa during that period along with me were the striking duo of Albino Fernandes of Merces and the late Visitacao Lobo from Parra (who later on became the second Goan after Menino Figueredo of Salgaocar to represent India), in the former USSR. There was no brainy striker who entered Goan soccer scene after Visitacao Lobo and there was none like Albino in Goa who could rattle the opponents' bar with his power-packed right footer. Both of them were the precious jewels of Goan soccer of that era and also the darlings of soccer fans. Team Sesa Goa was an inspiration not only for the players of Bardez but also from other parts of Goa, providing them opportunities not only to play soccer and create name and fame for themselves in Goa and elsewhere but also providing them opportunities in getting permanent employment. This was so as Sesa -- the mining firm which subsequently changed hands and went over to the Japanese and expat Indian multinationals subsequently -- were the biggest employers of Goan manpower at that time. I feel the good work Sesa did for Goan boys in developing them as fine footballers should not come to an end. The Government of Goa and other interested organizations and individuals must try to convince the Sesa Goa management to review its decision, for the good of Goan soccer. The drought of finance for Sesa will not remain permanently as we are already assured of the restarting of mining in Goa shortly. Finance will surely come again but once the Sesa Academy is closed, it will remain closed forever. This should not happen. The impact Sesa Goa created on Goan soccer during the last so many years was so great that its legacy should not be allowed to die an instant death. Since Sesa Goa, from the time of Portuguese rule in Goa, minted money by excavating minerals from Goan soil and land, the same mighty Sesa Goa must continue to help the sons of this soil and land to develop as fine footballers. As a gratitude to Goa from where it gained so much of wealth, Sesa Goa must continue on developing Goan soccer. Sesa Goa at this juncture must not abandon its responsibilities towards Goans. ### Source: http://goa-kranti.blogspot.com