Moses Colaco of AVC( Assolna Velim Cuncolim ) in dubai PROFIEL
BY ARMSTRONG VAZ His mission in life is to give every opportunity and guidance to players who are determined to succeed-something he feels was denied to him. Moses Colaco hails from Velim Salcete Goa. Moses was a Player, Captain, Team Manager, sponsor and Coach for the AVC Football Club from 1980 – 2001in Dubai. Moses has also obtained his Football coaching licence and he is a qualified soccer. The usage of the word AVC is not much in use in the last two decades in Goa. But for scores of Goans settled in different parts of the world or sailing through different ports of the world, AVC holds a special place in the heart of the Goans and more so if you happen to be from one of the three villages of Assolna, Velim and Cuncolim. The three villages special bonding dates back to centuries on the politically, social and sporting fields which have being maintained over the years by generations. Incidentally the three villages which have given hundreds of gallant freedom fighters to the cause of Goa liberation were in the forefront of non cooperation movement. AVC people refused to pay taxes to the Portuguese and were thus the trend setters in opposing the colonial rulers. Goan have tried to maintain thier identity where ever they go and have made mark all over the universe. Armstrong Vaz here profiles Moses Colaco from Velim who has been carrying the work load of AVC club in Dubai for the last 23 years. Moses has been involved in promoting football amongst the Goan community and Kerala community and he has done it with reasonable success in far way land. The A.V.C. Football Team was founded in 1979 with two Velikars late Soccorro D'Costa (Velim) and Pio Braz (Velim) being founding fathers of the club. A year latter stepped in the man who has given the club a new out look and who has since then carried the AVC torch and banneron his broad shoulders making a lot of invidualistic and family sacrifices for the love of the game which he cherishes most. . According to statistics A VC Football Club is one of the oldest team that participates in all the tournaments held in Dubai. In the first ever tournament, A VC defeated Colva (3-2} in the league but Colva went on to win the first Inter village Football Championship 1980.A VC defeated two times Champions Vasco (1-0) in 1990 to reach the semifmals. . Some of the players of A VC Football Club are given jobs and employment visa according to Colaco. The other salient feature of AVc club is that Club has been giving opportunity to players who are not selected by other clubs over the years and also for scouting talent and developing players who are later transferred to other clubs. . A VC team is full of surprises and known to be the 'giant killers' in the Dubai goan tournaments informs colaco. . AVC Football team has been managed by Mr. Mafario Antao (Cansaulim) for the last five years but Moses still goes to train the Dubal camp boys. . Moses has also obtained his Football coaching licence from USA Soccer Federation (FIFA), Washington DC and he is a qualified soccer coach, which enables him to take up coaching assignment in USA. Moses believes that the Brazilian soccer displays best of skills in the game. . This year he informs AVC players have shown tremendous determination to win and have defeated more fancied teams to reach the final in 25 years. . He further adds that This year the AVC team is captained by towering Menino Fernandes(Assolna) who plays at center back with Agnela Noronha, Neville Pereira and Rui Niasso.The goalkeeper Michael Fernandes also created a new record in the goan inter village tournament in Dubai by reaching the final without conceding a goal. . The new talent discovered at this years inter village football tournament include center forward rookie Peter Fernandes . peter claimed three man of the match out of four matches. Ivanhoe Gouviea a former first division player who was the leading goal scorer so far. Other team members of AVC are Raymond Rata, Succour Miranda, Steve Fernandes, Cajetan Dias, Savio Pereira, Santan Oliveira, Marshall Agnel Fernandes, John Fernandes and reserve goalkeeper Stephen Roque Fernandes. THE MAN BEHIND THE AVC TEAM Moses Colaco hails from Velim Salcete Goa but at very young age his parents took him to Dar- es Salaam, Tanzania. . In school and college, he was good in athletics, cricket, hockey and football. Football was his favourite sports in which he excelled himself. He played for Dar Wanderers against the local African teams in Dar -Salaam Football League at ILALA Stadium, Tanzania. He also played for the popular youth club YOUNG ROVERS football team in Dar-es-Salaam. . In India Moses represented the Poona University from 1966-1969. In 1968, Poona University. Moses had a knack of scoring goals and accounted for nine goals in Poona university thrashing Jalgaon by 15 goals. _ In 1971 the late Mohd Hussain the TAT A's coach who was in charge of the Indian National called Moses for a trial to select the Indian team for the Olympic qualifying round against Burma in Rangoon. Moses was in the company of Arthur Pereira, Shyam Thapa, Ranjeet Thapa, Bandiya, Shivdas etc. Vasco and Mohan Bagan players were missing as they were training for the Rovers Cup final (1971). Moses was heart broken when he was not selected among the 22 member Indian team. . He then decided to hang up his boots and came to Dubai in 1973. He still has a burning passion for the game of soccer and his knows how it feels to sit on the bench or be left out of the team. Therefore his mission in life is to give every opportunity and guidance to players who are determined to succeed- something he feels was denied to him. . Moses was a Player, Captain, Team Manager, sponsor and Coach for the AVC Football Club from 1980 - 2001. _ Moses and his son Kevin established a unique record in 1996 when father and son played in the first eleven for AVC. Kevin is qualified Engineer and also plays soccer in USA