I find it surprising that the question which is very crucial and future of Goan football has been ignored either the reporter is ill informed or ignored.....something is amiss down the line..
Here is my take on Goan football Goa government may have declared football as a state game and is handing crores of rupees to Goa Football Development Council to promote the game and nurture young talent but is the Goa Football Development Council heading in the right direction. Questions arise as to why Goa Football Development Council and Goa Football Association are at slugger heads. If we look at the ground level scenario we find that young footballers suffer on account of the lack of coordination between the two football bodies for whom the game should have been more important than the individual egos and constant bickering. The Goa Football Development Council, which runs one of the residential academy and has 37 centres spread all over the state is still awaiting affiliation with Goa Football Association. At the last Annual General Body meeting held last month there was no mention of the affiliation of Goa Football Development Council. With Goa Football Association not granting them affiliation, the Goa Football Development Council application with All India Football Federation to grant them recognition has been shot down. That’s not the end, at the local front Goa Football Development Council teams cannot take part in the Goa Football Association organised age groups tournaments. The only exposure this players get is the tournaments for inter-centre and inter schools tournaments. Take the instance of Cuncolim, which is one of the centre of Goa Football Development Council. Cuncolim Union, one of the registered clubs, has not been fielding any age group teams since 2014. Incidentally the club chairman is Elvis Gomes, president of Goa Football Association, but the club has no youth development teams, so much so for the love of football and football development. A leader must an example by leading from the front, but here a front runner who has nothing to show against his name in the name of youth development. Sources in Goa Football Development Council told me that they are awaiting the new Executive Committee of Goa Football Association to take over so that their application for affiliation will be considered on a favourable basis. The Goa Football Development Council was an off shoot by members of Goa Football Association led by Elvis Gomes and Dr Rufino Monteiro after they lost the Goa Football Association elections. But with time they fell out. The Goa Football Development Council got a shot in the arm when Goa government declared football as a state game and the council got necessary support from the government in the form of infrastructure and funding. Coming back to Goa Football Development Council it has around 150 odd coaches work with Goa Football Development Council at the 37 centres functioning in Goa. North Goa has a lion share with 69 coaches for 22 centres. One centre Valpoi has seven coaches while Arambol and Corlim had five coaches each while some centres functioned with just one coach. In South Goa, 44 coaches work at 15 centres, while some have four coaches—Navelim, Nagao, Fatorda, and Cuncolim, other centres had three or two coaches while Devabhag just one coach. The unequal number of centres, in another debatable thing, traditionally South Goa has been the cnetre of football, but only has 15 centres while the nerve centre of football like Chinchinim which produced a large of international footballers in the past has been conveniently ignored. Govt splurging taxpayers’ money with no benefit to footballers: Elvis Gomes BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO PANAJI The incumbent Goa Football Association (GFA) President, Elvis Gomes recently completed four years on the hot seat. In an extensive interview with The Goan, the GFA top boss spoke on his major achievements during his tenure, his issues against the local government for the betterment of the State declared sport and efforts to topple him from the pedestal. Following are the excerpts from the tête-à-tête The Goan: You have completed four years in office. What are the highlights? Elvis Gomes: The achievements have been many. Apart from the positive changes in the administrative set-up, we have done a lot of work on the ground level. Practically every player now has a permanent registration number and here on after, there would be no writing of manual cards. There is also an introduction of hologram security features to prevent impersonation on the field. Besides that, at the GFA Duler ground, it has been my solo effort to get the floodlights, the generator set and complete renovation of the dormitory and the conference room to the extent of making it usable. I saw that all the 1000-odd league matches in the year are held without any compromise. The introduction of the Women’s League was the icing on the cake. TG: After a four-year term, do you want to seek another term as the president? EG: Let the process of election unroll. I had indicated that I would not be there, but there has been a change in circumstances. As such, I do not rule myself out. We have gone for the amendment of the constitution. We are the first State in the country to incorporate the provisions of the National Sports Development Code 2011 based on which the AIFF Election Executive Committee was set aside. Everybody appreciated it. TG: Coming to Churchill, he stated that you overstayed your tenure as GFA President. What have you to say to that? EG: One Churchill saying that makes no difference. Churchill coming on the eve of the Annual General Board Meeting and making the statement does not hold vote. This said, for the simple reason the next day’s event at the AGM proved that I was vindicated. By the implementation of the National Sports Development Code, it was seen by the members as a requirement which serves the interest of the federation fraternity at large and not for personal interest. If the government and AIFF want it that way, we might as well do it. TG: What are these things that the ruling dispensation at GFA need to put in place? EG: Now that we have already amended the constitution, we have to bring out the final copy and unroll the election process. The main changes are that the incumbent on the post should demit office at 70 years and that a president cannot run office for more than three consecutive terms, the general secretary or treasurer cannot hold office for more than two consecutive terms. Therefore it will give a wider playing field to others to come in. I think it is more democratic and that a good thing has been done. TG: What do you foresee as the needs of GFA to improve upon? EG: It is an ecosystem where the State government is also a major stakeholder. The government has always acted hostile in the last four years by using the taxpayers’ money for the wrong purposes. I had demanded from the Chief Minister a grant of at least 2 lakh to be given to each of the clubs. They need some assistance; they are the people who do the development at the grassroots level and the government does nothing. You call yourself a State that has declared football as a State sport; I find absolutely no sense in that. Apart from that, the government has done nothing for football besides giving a political entity a chair and putting money on that. How does it make any sense? You have to integrate it by helping in the creation of players at the grassroots level through clubs. Who is recognised in this system? FIFA recognises the federation, the federation recognises the association and the association recognises the clubs. These are the essential ingredients of the whole system. I have demanded that the government has to help the clubs.