GULF-GOANS e-NEWSLETTER (since 1994) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Churchill and their maturing Band of Brothers Friday, 08. May 2009 - Sujay Sharma Patron Churchill Alemao of the newly crowned Indian football champions has definitely thrown the gauntlet to the pretenders to their perch, with the extension of contracts for next season too of virtually the whole team that was so successful and made history for the family-team from Varca. Odafe, Mangi, Felix, Kalu, Vashum, Robert, Paite, Naoba: all of these tremendously key players have been retained, despite the tough negotiations and attempts by clubs from Kolkata and Mumbai to prize them away. Reportedly Odafe has sacrificed 20 lakhs to stick it out for another season with the champions, than head to the desperate success starved record champions East Bengal Club. That is no small sum by any means, even in this day and age of inflated salaries for top footballers in India. Under no illusion can the family-backed Churchill be considered to have the phenomenal financial and otherwise backing of a Kolkata giant, but they did their best to cover their interests in convincing Odafe (for a possibly lower sum than alternatives) and the others (for deservedly enhanced packages) to remain. Maybe it's a good sign about the professionalization of the game that successful players are acting more maturely in their ways to ensure better more sustained success over the entirety of their career. Odafe might have taken into consideration the reverence he is held in by his Goan followers, and how well his family is settled. Kalu and Felix might have taken into consideration their personal comfort in playing in a settled environment with their good friend and captain. The many improved north-easterners might have taken into consideration their own development as footballers from their time of graduation at TFA and other small places, their regular opportunities to play day in day out to demonstrate their mettle. The fact these youngsters showed the maturity en-masse three years ago to shun the black-holes of promising talent that are the Kolkata big-two, meant that it was probably no surprise they were able to weigh up their priorities this time around too, when an enticing move could well be one wrong turn too many god forbid an injury or drop in form under the pressure cooker of expectations happened to see them dropped like stones and regress in their careers. Then there is the small matter of the Asian competition. For footballers of top quality, pitting themselves against better opposition is in itself a huge incentive to excel. It is a kind of positive motivation, where over-par performances are fulfilling. On the other hand, the Kolkata duo, perennially the subject of negative motivation in terms of their fear of failure and looking to somehow establish themselves in India first, have hardly made a dent in AFC Cups. Meanwhile, the two other teams to have taken part with some regularity, Mahindra and Dempo, have consistently shown themselves to raise the bar of their performances and results, when competing in Asia. That is probably what we should expect, unsurprisingly, from Churchill too in the upcoming season. For the Band of Brothers, in staying together, could help to build successfully on the strong foundations they themselves have helped to establish.