*Senior GFA members demanded that an FIR be lodged to probe into whether the prestigious Bandodkar Cup is actually made of pure gold or just gold plated.
*The trophy is currently believed to be in the custody of GFA President Elvis Gomes and kept in the office of the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC), of which he is the member secretary.
Andrea Fernandes
PANAJI
The Bandodkar Gold Cup, long believed to be made of solid gold and kept in the safety of a bank locker is now claimed to be only gold plated.
If fresh claims are to be believed, the Bandodkar Gold trophy famously donated by the State’s first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar is just gold plated. Voices within GFA are growing louder by the day with some senior members even demanding that an FIR be lodged and the matter be probed into in all seriousness and truth prevail over whether the prestigious Bandodkar Cup is genuinly made of gold or otherwise.
Whether the original gold trophy was swapped with a gold plated replica between then and now or it was falsely claimed that it was solid gold all along with no one bothering to question the claim. No one within the GFA or beyond it knows for sure what the truth is.
On January 6, 2015 Goa Football Association brought the Bandodkar Gold Cup Trophy out from the bank locker to display it to the public during the Federation Cup in order to generate some interest around the tournament which they were planning to revive. The trophy was never returned to the bank locker.
GFA President Elvis Gomes in whose custody the trophy currently is had earlier said that it is only a gold plated trophy but when asked for a fresh quote refused to comment on the same.
Several questions persist though. If the trophy is now only gold plated and not solid gold, as the GFA President Elvis Gomes had claimed, what happened in the interim? Further, if it was not made of solid gold then why was it kept in a bank locker?
The Bandodkar trophy was considered the country’s most expensive sports trophy until the Indian Premier League trophy which grabbed the limelight in 2008.
Former India goalkeeper and Goa's first Arjuna award winner in football Brahmanand Shankwalkar who has on many occasions proudly lifted the prestigious cup, expresses his disbelief.
“During those yesteryears everyone knew that this trophy was of pure gold and was very heavy. I had to hold in against my chest to bear the weight of it. Whenever the trophy was brought to the ground it was surrounded by guards. The trophy was given to the winners barely for ten to fifteen minutes to click photos. My father was a friend of late Bandodkar and was told that it was a solid gold trophy and never expected this news of it being gold plated would ever come. The trophy was last seen by me in a picture in one of the newspaper during the Fed Cup held this year. From the Tilak Maidan where it has gone I don’t know,” he says.
“I was very young when this trophy was made by a goldsmith and was of pure gold. All I know is that it was donated by my grandfather and is the property of Goa Football Association (GFA). This trophy has the carving of my uncle, Siddharth Bandodkar posing with the ball,” Sameer Kakodkar, grandson of late Dayanand Bandodkar had told The Goan earlier.
Another senior GFA executive member too smells a conspiracy. “When the trophy was taken out from the vault six months back, we being members were not called. All I know is that this trophy was made of gold and what is in possession now is only the replica. The president also has not told us anything. Something is wrong somewhere. Previous captains say that if they hold the trophy now they could tell whether it is the same trophy they held over two decades ago,” said GFA's executive member Gajanan Kerkar.
GFA Vice President (North Goa) Lavinio Rebello has demanded that an FIR be lodged and a probe ordered as to what happened to the original trophy. “I don’t know where the trophy is. At the next executive meeting I will ask for an FIR to be filed at the earliest so that GFA members can find out, during the term of which committee did this incident occur. If the trophy was not of pure gold then why was it kept in the locker of the bank for two decades and GFA paid the rent? Why did Vilas Sardessai, former senior vice president of AIFF sleep on the sofa with a fully loaded gun guarding the trophy the day it was kept at his house? Finally, I would like to ask why is the trophy named Bandodkar gold cup if there are any doubts about it being made of gold at all?”
The trophy is currently believed to be in the custody of GFA President Elvis Gomes and kept in the office of the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC), of which he is the member secretary.
Lavinio Rebello went a step further saying that the GFA has signed MOUs with the GFDC for coaches and referees but does not recall any such MOU to keep the Bandodkar Trophy at the GFDC member secretary’s cabin.
