Goa replaces Kolkata as the soccer capital of India Dempo's entry into the AFC Cup semis has brought the Goan club in the limelight at the Asian level. The former Portuguese colony, which has emerged as the football hub seems to have replaced Kolkata as the soccer capital of the country...
By Armstrong Vaz GOAN CLUB Dempo Sports Club's entry into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup semi-final, the first-ever for an Indian club, has shifted the focus on the former Portuguese colony, which has emerged as the football hub of the country. So what makes the small state rave about its success on the football field? If the Indian National League - I-League is one area to fall back to arrive at conclusions - then Goa with four I-League clubs takes the cake, the same as the eastern state of West Bengal, in the 12 team league. Goa Football Association (GFA) secretary Savio Messais feels that Goa has replaced Kolkata as the soccer capital of the country. "The soccer capital has shifted to Goa not only because of the four I-League clubs but for many other reasons like a greater success rate at nationals, better administration, production of good players, coaches, referees and also better infrastructure." "Passion for football in Goa needs a conducive atmosphere. The encouragement from GFA for clubs, which helps them to grow has been the secret behind so many Goan clubs featuring in the I-League," Messais added. But then the Indian I-League's common complaint has been the concentration of the 12 clubs in just four states - Goa, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Punjab. Kolkata and Goa also has four I-leagues clubs and then Mumbai has three I-League clubs, that means only one club outside the three states of Goa, West Bengal and Maharashtra. That does not augur well for Indian football in terms of crowd interest - no teams from the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka, and only one team from north - JCT. Messais has a solution to the problem. "One should not try to kill the goose, which lays the golden egg. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) should take a leaf out of the Japanese Federation and built up teams in other states. The I-League is 12 years old and it has been the same old story. You may reduce the teams or increase the teams, it will be the same states having representation. In Japan, the federation formed a J League club in an area where no football was played and only farmers existed." And he agrees with national coach Bob Houghton's suggestion of increasing the number of teams in the I-League. "Yes, we needed more teams many years ago because you had a greater pool of players available. In a huge country like ours what can we achieve by having just eight or 10 clubs ? Out of the 88 to 110 players, 24 to 30 are foreigners. If only 60 to 80 players get exposure can you think we can progress?" But that is not the only grey area Indian football administrators have to address and GFA is ready to help of AIFF. "If our suggestions are sought we are ready to suggest and help other states grow, but basically other state associations should first get their house in order, and AIFF need to be tough with these associations. A few states in India do not even have an association for many years like Andhra Pradesh and now Rajasthan. Can these states even dream of having a team in the I-League?" Messais, who is into his second term as secretary of GFA, favours the rule barring national team players not playing in the local leagues. "I fully supported the idea as I was convinced after I had a lengthy discussion with the national coach Bob Houghton. It may affect the attendance in the local league but we need to pull up our socks and market the local league differently. We need to play home and away matches. If the clubs played their matches on home grounds like Raia, Varca and Velsao villages, we would have seen big crowds than the I-League." The I-League has been responsible for many outstation tournaments, which lesser known Goan clubs used to participate have died a slow death. Bandodkar Gold Cup held in Goa is one. Messais does not favour the idea of AIFF keeping a window open for such smaller tournaments. "If you have a window open for such tournaments only the richest will survive. The top clubs will play only in tournaments, which offer good perks. What happens to the rest of the tournaments? Some tournaments in India draw crowds between twenty to thirty thousand people even without the top clubs playing even now." And GFA raises a few eyebrows and ruffled a few feathers within the Bandodkar family when they proposed to auction cup. Messais explained the reasons for doing so. "We felt that the Bandodkar tournament could never be organised again due to the changing scenario in India. We could not organise this tournament for the last 15 or more years and we would never be able to have it again, we are finding it very difficult to organise the Governor Cup and the Police Cup, which are knock out tournaments for Goan teams only. Hence, rather than keeping the trophy in the bank locker we suggested that we set up an academy and name it after the Bandodkar family. It was only a suggestion but we need to brainstorm and look at other ideas too." GFA is upbeat at the progress of the state and is not resting on past laurels and plans to set up an academy in either Mapusa or Fatorda. GFA presently has a tie up for youth development and other related projects with the University of Porto, Portuguese Olympic Association and FC Porto and soon will have a protocol with Leicester City. The tie-up has benefited around 200 coaches and players. The state benefited in many areas like coach education, training of players in Portugal, youth team visits to Portugal, restructuring of the youth tournaments and calendar. http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=144706 ~(^^)~ Avelino
