Goan football’s introduction is relatively recent and was soinnocuous that most of us haven't the slightest idea of how and when ithappened. Practically everyone we meet assumes that it came about by thenatural osmosis of culture that was bound to permeate our lifestyles due to thePortuguese presence in Goa. Others simply believe that since every Goan childcan kick, Goans would take to football like fish to water. Nothing could befurther from the truth. Football was brought to Goa in 1883 by Fr. WilliamRobert Lyons, who came from Karnataka to recover from health problems. He likedGoa so much that he founded a School and introduced the sport there.
Since then, there has been an illustrious list of playersand officials that have made it big from Goa. One can only be in awe of thispedigree passed down generations. In competitions worth their salt, only a Goanclub has reached the semi-finals of the AFC Cup and only one Goan club has wonthe I-League till date.
As a testament to the sport, football was declared theofficial sport of Goa in 2012 by the Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar whichreinforces what was unofficially known across Goa and India.
While you would think that since the sport is engrained inevery Goenkar from a tender age, ground reality of where Goan footballers standvis-Ã -vis other states is abysmal. Goa in many ways has been surpassed inquality of coaches, infrastructure, money in the sport etc. The word “Susegaad”most Goan’s swear by, is starting to affect football.
To catch up with the rest and regain the top spot, footballin Goa needs to undergo a sea of change and that is being facilitated by theGoa Football Association (GFA) along with an influx of investors and foreignclubs. A special purpose vehicle set up by Parrikar, the Goa DevelopmentFootball Council (GDFC) has been created to work for the development of game offootball in Goa. They are helping out with finances for various clubs andinstitutions involved in the promotion of football, planning and execution ofevents, seminars and workshops and working for the overall betterment of sportin Goa.
Goa boasts of world class academies like, SESA headed bySesa Community Development Foundation, which is promoted by Sesa Goa Limitedand Brazilian Football Academia (BFA). An academy not only teaches football butlooks at Long Term Player Development with access to good education, bestcoaches, nutrition, diet experts and domain experts.
Vision 2020 for Goa should have a lot of internationalbrands and corporates working with local bodies towards the advancement of thegame. The GFA should incorporate player development as their primary mandate.Vision 2020 can be achieved by opening the doors to foreign managerial talentand investors.
Goa has and will remain the pride of Indian Football. Withthe right measures and the right future steps, one can expect Goa to be a hubof football in the country on many levels. It is not long before a Goenkar willmake his mark on the global football scale, he just needs a little help to get there.Vision 2020 will only reiterate the declaration of football as Goa’s officialsport.
Mark Rodricks is a Pune based Goan footballer and coach ofthe Pune FC U-13 team. He is also the technical head of the Bayern Munich Indiaselections
