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| Wishing all Goanetters |
| a Prosperous |
| and |
| Happy New Year - 2006 |
| Goanet - http://www.goanet.org |
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KUWAIT GOAN SOCCER TEAMS IN SAARC TOURNAMENT.
Nepal is one of the prominent soccer countries in Asia. Many of the
Nepalese known as Gurkhas are become very prominent in India as soccer
players. I am sure many of us will know how some years back the powerful
Gurkha Brigade of India soccer team was. 35 years back when this team came
to play in Rovers Cup at Bombay that time it was treated as one of the best
Indian teams. When the management of Bombays best outfit Mafatlal saw the
players of Gurkha Brigade in action they were totally astonished and took
total admiration for this young Gurkha team. Within a split of a moment
mighty management of Mafatlal contacted the Gurkha Brigade team and
immediately recruited 7 players from Gurkha Brigade with very fat salaries,
one of them was immediately made skipper of Mafatlal, he was Bupinder Rawat
who was an outstanding forward. It was said that time in Calcutta that he
was the second Neville D'Souza of India because they both had lot of
similarities especially in sprnting with the ball in the penalty area of the
opponents. Neville D'Souza a Goan was the only Indian so far to have scored
a hat-trick in the Olympics at Melbourne in 1956 against Australia. When
Mafatlal team as Bombay League Champions came to Goa to participate in 3
friendlies in 1969, one with Goa League Champions SESA Goa, I had a unique
distinction as a player of Sesa to play against the then mighty Mafatlal and
was put by our coach to stop Bupinder Rawat. Later on we saw how Dempo of
Goa recruited some of the best Gurkha players of Nepali origin. Does anyone
remember the dynamic Thapa of Dempo Sports Club? He was the golden boy of
Dempo of that time. The Gurkhas of Nepali origin because of their love for
soccer have even forfeited their job prospects in the Indian Armed Forces to
join best of Indian teams namely Mafatlal of Bombay and Dempo of Goa. As a
matter of fact Goans and Nepalis are having lot of interactions in Goa
especially many of the antique sellers in Goa are Nepalis doing very good
business.
In Kuwait there are Nepalese whose love for soccer is immense. Since last
few years annually they organize their soccer tournaments for the Nepalese
citizens only. Earlier these activities were organized at Sour Grounds with
the help of Indians mainly the Goans but this year under the banner of
Mount Everest Sporting Club Katmandu Kuwait, Nepalese will organize an
eventful soccer tournament known as "Expatriate South Asian Football
Championship" at Kheitan Stadium (though this venue may change), inaugural
match will be played on 17th February 2006. On 13th of this month the Draw
for this tournament was held in one of the prominent hotels in Kuwait at
Abbasiya attended by the representatives of all the participating teams.
This tournament is for all the teams from SAARC (South Asian Association for
Regional Coopration) countries namely India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives & Nepal. Amongst these 7 countries, only 6 teams
from three countries will participate in this tournament namely India, Sri
Lanka and Nepal. Bangladesh withdrew at the last minute. Each country will
be represented by 2 teams. India will be represented by 2 Goan teams namely
G.O.A. (Goan Overseas Association) and K.G.A. (Kuwait Goan Association) and
Mr. Fidelis Fernandes will act as a co-coordinator for both the Indian teams
besides helping the organisers to conduct the tournament. For this Draw
G.O.A. and K.G.A. were represented by their representatives Tony Correia and
Salvador Dias respectively. The tournament will be conducted on League
basis, two top teams from each group will meet in the finals. In First
Group there are 3 teams namely: Mount Everest Sporting Club - Nepal (2)
Ceylon Youth Club Sri Lanka and (3) Goan Overseas Association - India
while in the Second Group the 3 teams are (1) Sunrise Sporting Club Nepal
(2) Kuwait Lanka United Sports Club Sri Lanka and (3) Kuwait Goan
Association India. According to the organizers represented by their
president Balkumar Grum and Gen. Secretary Deepak Basal who briefed the
gathering, every match will be of 70 minutes duration, each half of 35
minutes and the final will be of 90 minutes duration. For any injury, the
medical aid will be provided by the organizers besides other amenities for
the participating teams.
The inaugural function will start with the March-past followed by a
cultural item from the place of each participating team/country. On behalf
of Indian Teams a Goan cultural item will be performed as per the
information received. The organizers will make the necessary arrangement to
invite all the SAARC Embassy Officials/Ambassadors for the inaugural
function and also for the final. The players allowed to participate in this
tournament will be those having valid working residence permits but players
on visiting visas and dependent residence permits are not allowed to
participate.
A. Veronicaf Fernandes,
Kuwait.
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