PANAJI
Salgaocar FC has released a statement to explain its decision to disband their senior teams, calling it "the hardest in the history of our illustrious club". The club, however, hinted it is open to consider a full-fledged comeback provided the conditions are suitable and in "alignment with our original goals and purpose".
"We at Salgaocar FC have indeed been very touched and moved by the heartfelt sentiments shared (by fans and well-wishers). We would like to assure all of them that this is not a decision that was taken lightly and it was the hardest in the history of our illustrious club," the club said in the statement.
"However, we strongly feel that the future of club football in Goa has reached a crossroads and we were forced to decide on a way forward... Over the years, the football scene in India underwent several changes, which forced us to re-examine the original vision of Salgaocar FC," the club said.
"With the I-League becoming a Tier-2 tournament and the introduction of the ISL, most of the historical national tournaments died a natural death and forced a number of clubs like Mahindras, Tatas, JCT, Pune FC etc to close down. Even the Federation Cup, winners of which were declared the Champion Club of India, has not been held since 2017.
"In 2016, along with Dempo and Sporting, Salgaocar FC took the decision to withdraw from the I-League as we did not see a future for the I-League and non-ISL clubs in India. Nonetheless, we continued maintaining the Goa Pro League team and age group teams with a full Youth Development setup.
"However, going forward, this model will not be viable as players below the age of 18 years are not allowed to be registered in the non-amateur category. All amateur players can be transferred to a club without an NOC from the previous club. Further the team strengths for U-13 and U-15 have been reduced to 7 and 9 respectively in state and national tournaments, in turn reducing the pool of players for promotion to higher age group teams. Hence we decided to maintain only our U-13 and U-15 teams, since the feeder to the higher age groups would not exist and these are formative years for any player.
“In the recent past, in addition to the ongoing difficulties, the reputation of Goan football has been sullied by various allegations of match fixing and betting. This has destroyed the very charm of competitive matches and the thrill of winning, since one never knows whether the opponent has thrown away the match or conceded more goals than merited due to external pressures. Although the current GFA President and the Executive Committee have been more vigilant and proactive, this malaise will be extremely difficult to control given the large sums of money involved," the club statement read.
"In addition, despite all the challenges faced by us, we have not received much support from the local authorities. Although for the senior team we had made arrangements for a private ground for practices, we were struggling to find grounds for the youth age teams despite continuous dialogue with the authorities and continued assurances from them. Blocking of many grounds for the ISL practices and matches held in Goa didn’t help matters.
"Going forward, we at Salgaocar FC will remain committed to grassroots development of football in Goa as we strongly believe this is the area where we can still contribute meaningfully and significantly... Salgaocar FC will continue to monitor developments in football at the state and national level on an ongoing basis and will reconsider our decision at a time when we find alignment with our original goals and purpose," Salgaocar said, hinting at a possible return to top-flight football in future.
