It has been 41 years since Goa won the prestigious Santosh Trophy for the first time. Brahmanand Shankhwalkar, Goa’s legendary footballer and goal-keeper who was the captain of the team that gave Goa its first Santosh Trophy title many seasons ago, gets emotional every time he recalls that historic day “ 6th March 1983.
“We were playing Bengal in the Santosh Trophy final at Calcutta. It was my birthday too but I was in no mood to celebrate. I remember ours was a team consisting of both experienced and few newcomers, but was a fiercely-determined side who wanted to win the Santosh Trophy for Goa at any cost”, recalls Brahmanand.
The odds were highly stacked against the Goan team. After all, Bengal had won six of the last seven Santosh Trophy titles before the 1983 clash against Goa, who were yet to taste success at the national level.
The Bengali side also had a record nine players who were part of the Indian team from the 1982 Asian Games. Besides this, they were equally supported by a packed and vociferous home crowd. It was indeed a daunting task before the Goan outfit.
But, the 23-member Goan contingent and a couple of officials who had travelled to Calcutta believed that Goa had a chance of winning.
Before this, Goa had reached the Santosh Trophy final only once in 1978 at Srinagar before losing to Bengal in the final by a solitary goal. Now five years later, Goa was again facing Bengal in the final.
“My goal was always crowded but I could still see everything - every pass, every move, every danger. I badly to win this one after missing out of the 1978 final due to jaundice”, says Brahmanand.
Both the teams gave each other a tough fight. In the end, neither team could break the deadlock for 210 minutes which included 90 minutes of play of previous day and 120 minutes including 30 minutes extra time the next day. Both the final and replay had ended in goalless draws.
In spite of having the best forward line in the country, Bengal had not faced resistance like this, and rarely before, did they encounter a goalkeeper who withstood such pressure.
The winner was not decided on penalties. For the first time in the history of the tournament, the Santosh Trophy was shared.
In a sporting gesture, Bengal captain Compton Dutta thought it was best for Goa to take the trophy home and keep it for the first six months.
“It was a proud moment for me when I went to receive the trophy as it was my 29th birthday. Not allowing Bengal to score any goals for successive days was not easy as they were recognized as amongst the best in the country,” says Brahmanand with immense pride.
Elated after the victory, he said, “We have proved tonight that football is played elsewhere too, not merely in Bengal”.
Cool, calm and composed, Brahmanand had motivated his team, telling them not to get overawed by the internationals in the Bengal side or their vociferous supporters.
There was no live telecast of the match, but across Goa people had stayed tuned to their radios listening as the commentators brought the exploits of the Goan side consisting of Brahmanand Shankhwalkar, Arnold Rodrigues, Camilo Gonsalves, Nicholas Pereira, Mahesh Lotlikar, Rosario Rodriques, Vasudev Chodankar, Mauricio Afonso, Custodio Almeida, Paixo Godhino, Dionisio Trinidade, Caetano Fernandes, Ashok Fadte, Jose Fernandes, Herbert San, Bento Andrew, Gokuldas Nagvenkar, Jose D'Souza and others live to their homes. Legendary footballer T Shanmugham was coach of the Goan side.
Arnold Rodrigues and Camilo Gonsalves were named the best forward and best player of the tournament respectively.
During those days, winning the Santosh Trophy was considered the ultimate in Indian football. There was nothing like a winning Santosh Trophy title, and it was that first time ever that Goa had won at the national level. Since then, Goa has won the Santosh trophy on five occasions.
