PANAJI
The Goa Football Association (GFA) annual general body meeting held on Sunday was dominated by inter-village tournament issues, over which the GFA unanimously adopted a new protest redressal system by doing away with the jurisdiction of the Appeals Committee over inter-village tournaments.
In the recent past, a large number of protests could not be disposed in time creating animosity between member clubs. The GFA took cognizance of the fact that disputes at inter village tournaments needed settlement immediately as these tournaments were time-bound and were played to coincide with local feasts and festivals and the interests of the sponsors of such tournaments also needed to be protected.
As a result, the proposal of the GFA president to allow the association's Official Competitions Committee along with a representative from the tournament organizer and a member of the Referee Sub-Committees was unanimously approved. Henceforth, all decisions pertaining to tournaments in North Goa will be made by a committee drawn from the South Goa members and vice versa.
Meanwhile, it was decided to convene an Extraordinary General Body Meeting on October 22, where in interim arrangement in matters relating to amendments to the statutes shall be taken up for discussion. The General Body also has made an exception to member clubs, from participating in any of the GFA Youth Leagues and Third Division Leagues for a period of one year, taking into consideration financial difficulties of the clubs and the fact that venues would not be available due to the hosting of AFC Cup 2016 and the FIFA World Cup 2017 in the State.
The non payment of dues to the GFA for the Lusofonia Games to the tune of Rs 11 lakhs by the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) for three years and the non response of the government on various representations made by the GFA came in for sharp criticism from the members. The action of SAG in charging for the usage of grounds for official matches, and even for the physical fitness test of the referees, was condemned and it was held that the declaration of the football as official sport was "meaningless" for football in the State.
