GOAN FOOT-BALL IN KUWAIT.
It is 27 years now since the competitive soccer initiated at Sour Grounds
for the Indian community by United Goans Center. Many of the stalwarts who
took active part in this initiative and promotion are either dead or retired
from Kuwait and forgotten though few are still in Kuwait namely Tony
Gonsalves, Joe F.X. DSouza, Joe Fernandes and others. The legacy that they
have created is still alive and active as seen on every Friday at Sour
Grounds in the mornings. For Indian community in general and Goan community
in particular Friday mornings are especial not only because of soccer
activities but also for meetings, inculcating acquaintances, friendships,
exchanging views and discussing topics of their home places and their
activities beyond soccer arena. Goan community is more actively and
numerically involved in our soccer activities on Fridays at Sour Grounds and
this soccer is more identified with Goans in Kuwait.
Some of the happenings taking place there are really surprising. For
example, according to my observation betting is done in hundreds of dinars
every Friday and even results of the matches sometimes fixed as done in the
match mixing, as per the available information. People involved in bettings
are controlling thru remote control the results of the matches. With the
exception of the Holy Month of Ramadan, almost the whole year the
tournaments and friendlies are conducted, including memorial tournaments in
memory of even the small dead children whose contribution in the promotion
and development of the soccer is BIG NIL. Normally memorial tournaments are
conducted to keep the memory of the dead whose contribution in this field is
noteworthy but at Sour Grounds this is not happening. If it had to happen
then in memory of great Goan soccer player Neville DSouza one tournament
would have been instituted. Neville DSouza is up to now the only Indian who
has created history by being the first and only Goan, only Indian and only
Asian to score a hat trick in the Olympics soccer in 1956 at Melbourne and
received plaudits even from Sir Stanley Rous the then FIFA President. He had
unique record to his credit when playing in Bombay for Rovers Cup final, in
5 minutes he scored a stunning hat trick to the delight of all the Goan
spectators. Instead of organizing tournaments in memory of their dead
children whose contribution in the promotion of soccer is Nil and thereby
making mockery of themselves, big and great hearted people should come
forward and help organize memorial tournaments in the name of deserving
people and NOT in the name of their kids.
During the first few years after the inception of our Sour Ground soccer,
every participating player was playing only for the pleasure of playing and
entertaining the spectators. There was no demand from his side on the club
or team of any sort for playing except a request for a job, if possible. But
gradually and mainly after the liberation of Kuwait the new comer players in
keeping with their trend in Goa of charging fees for giving their services
to their teams or clubs also started demanding monetary benefits for their
services. Not only monetary benefits but also benefits in many other forms
namely free accommodation, jobs for them and for their girlfriends and
wives, free return air tickets from Kuwait-Goa-Kuwait, weekly quota of one
liquour bottle, assistance in getting Car Licence, expenditure for the
celebration of their weddings in a posh hotel, assistance in obtaining Visas
for their relatives and even for their concubines. These are some of the
demands now-a-days some of our foot-ballers are putting forth but above all
the demand for cash money is on top of their agenda. According to my latest
information, one youngster forward who is creating ripples on Sour Grounds
is demanding KD 500/- to play any team that approaches him.
Match fixing is very common now-a-days but that such a thing is happening at
Sour Grounds can one believe? See what has happened on 9th of this month in
the morning. Semifinal of Santos tournament was held at about 7.00 followed
by final. Kerala Challengers and DHL were made to play in the semis.
Malyaless took the field with 7 players only and within few moments one of
their players left the field with an excuse of injury. Referee then blew
his long whistle terminating the match in favour of DHL because minimum
number of players required to carry on with the game is 7. Then DHL played
in the final against Navelim and won the Trophy in penalties. After
observing these events, can I say it is match fixing done with the consent
of the KIFF with the collaboration of Malyalees? Or can I call it a
pre-planned result? Normally, semifinal and final are not held on the same
day, one after the other - semifinal followed by final, but has KIFF planned
this much in advance with the blessings of one of the losing semifinalists
that is Kerala Challengers?
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
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