I think Luis's use of the word "shut up" was unwarranted. As I said in an earlier post, that the issue of non-Gaons playing in the Al Nasr tournament has aroused debate. In Toronto, the Goan tournament allows sons-in-law and husbands of Goan girls or sons of parents if the girl is Goan. It's often hard to check, but it is the manager of each team to vouch for the players' credentials. In the past, anglo-Indians and mangaloreans have played. I haven't come across such instances in recent times. Looking at another aspect, the team members are not from the same village they play for in Dubai and Toronto. Most often players who don't find a place in the first eleven in his own village team jumps to another team. As Luis says, maybe a team or two had difficulty in fielding an all-Goan team. Hence, to accommodate such teams a rule permitting three non-Goans was allowed. We have to look at the whole picture. Here, it's a war between two organising committees. On one hand, the Goan Cultural Society can boast of having 12 against 10 in the All-Star Entertainemtn tournament. On the other, the ASE people can boast that theirs is the "real" Goan tournament. I think it's frivolous indeed. I think the Toronto Goan football is good as it covers a wide ground and, at the same time, makes in Goan in every possible way. It's worth experimenting with in Dubai. Maybe there will be logistics problems. But it should be "honest to goodness" approach. If a team is found breaking the rule, then the team should be penalised. But then again, this team could go and form another tournament. Discipline is important. I was shocked at the behaviour of the Benaulim goalkeeper in last year's final. I am told he is an ex-Goa state player. Another team that ran in problems with the ASE tournament was Siolim United, I think. This team has joined the GCS tournament. One old-timer who was very much involved in Goan tournaments told me that he has stopped coming to either of the tournaments this year. He said he feels ashamed that the fight between the two bodies is now played in the newspapers. I was at the Al Nasr ground yesterday and wanted to check with an official regarding why this three non-Goans rule has been introduced. Unfortunately, the official was playing in a match and I had to rush somewhere else before the match got over. If I go to the Al Nasr ground I will find out. If anyone on this forum (Where is Joyce?) can inform, please do so.
Eugene Correia __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
