When Sports Minister Govind Gaude descended on the Fatorda Sports Complex early Tuesday morning, everyone was caught off guard, especially the coaches and staff. It took just one trip to the centre at Fatorda to understand what ails our sports. Besides the non-punctual coaches and staff, the sports minister was also a witness to poorly maintained equipment, a premier swimming pool in ruins, a stadium with roof sheets partially blown off and a lot of garbage and litter around the complex.
Gaude, a sportsperson himself, is probably the only sports minister in recent times to have taken such an over-view of the sports facilities, and this has ignited some hope of a revival. Broadly, he has touched upon key areas and sent out a serious message by calling for the suspension of errant coaches and staff. The visit is a positive step towards setting things right and putting sports back on track, but these are early days and the sports minister has a monumental task ahead of him to clean the mess. The sports minister will have to do a complete overhaul of the system, right from disciplining staff to maintaining infrastructure, besides setting out a new template.
Fatorda sports complex, nestled near Margao, caters to the sports needs of youngsters from Salcete and surrounding villages since it is equipped with multiple facilities. However, what is lacking is the maintenance of expensive equipment and coaching discipline. As much as there is no seriousness in coaching, there is not much significance attached to the upkeep and upgrade of sports infrastructure. The swimming pool has been non-functional for over two years with all three filtration units non-functional. Ironically, the ‘learn-to-swim’ classes for children were suspended a good seven years back due to a lack of optimum filtration. How does one explain the fact that the Fatorda roof sheets are being blown off with every pre-monsoon winds?
Moreover, the multipurpose sports complex at Fatorda which is equipped with multiple badminton courts has been very often used to host non-sporting events. If we may recall, it was used as rehab during Covid times, while the indoor stadium at Navelim, which was a make-shift venue provided for badminton players was being rented out for exhibitions. The state-of-the-art Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium at Bambolim is used more for exhibitions and events instead of sports events. The focus on sports is clearly missing and which is why Goa has failed to produce sportspersons of national competence. The few who have made it big have done so on their individual perseverance and hard work. Sadly, in Goa, one cannot find youngsters taking up sports as a career option.
If the State has to see a change, Gaude needs to understand the gravity of the situation first and plan a complete revamp. He will have to start from scratch because for the past 15 years sports has been neglected and successive sports ministers did not deem it fit to do a course correction. A good start has been made now, but the momentum has to continue.
