Say, all the nostalgia on the table tennis battles and the circus that went along made me think of sports in the old days....in particular the 70s.That was the Golden age of Goan sports....football,volleyball, badminton and table tennis. We had stars those years, be it Vero, Deepa Mambre and Subash in table tennis, Bernard (Vasco), Catao (Salgoncar), Bramanand (Panvel), Crown Club-Santa Cruz in volleyball, Madgaonkar family in badminton.........field hockey had the Girim gang and the the battling goalkeepers from Vasco....Peter and Praveen Bodade. It was all the entertainment one would wish for.
When Bernard strolled in the Vasco market, everyone stopped as if his thundering runs on field shook the ground they were standing on! Or Bramanand.....people still gather to chat with him. I see the chap from Crown Club (he had long hair then) around in Panjim and still stop and wonder.......he looks like anyone else rushing about....but in my memory, he was a star of the volleyball court. One travelled distances to watch them play. Or the fights that erupted after hockey games. Who needed wrestling and boxing? Or tv? There were no national awards for Goa in those days.......the closest we came to Goan glory was in the quarter finals of the Santosh trophy in Vasco (1972). The first major trophy came when the women's team won the national football at Campal....what a proud moment that was! And after that it has been downhill. Yes, there came Francis D'souza (the original mausi) and the great Mauricio Alfonso....a Requiem of the old days, fine tuned by Bob Bootland (?) to be a classic mid-fielder. Now, there are no stars...no one in sight, no one. The players are ordinary...the youngsters don't have a star to look up to- nor do they care. Who knows what the state of TT is. Volleyball is almost dead, hockey......never heard of it these days. Badminton....with coach Roshanlal gone....... I know everyone talks of Goan football. In the years gone by, yes; today- NADA? If anyone does not agree, I say they don't understand the game- move on to cricket yo. Goan football is too school boy like, complete lack of skill, not the excitement of free flowing game of the old. Can you imagine our beloved Vasco Club taking the field and the crows sits silent.This is the once great Vasco Club? In the days gone by, people would travel miles to watch them play, the very sight of the white with black stripe made one edgy with a great football game to come. Football sadly in the most horrible state one can imagine. One sees the coaches with resumes and exotic nationalities whose football sense is..what football sense? If you have time to spare, its way more entertaining to watch paunchy men play in any village ground than what is now called the Pro Le*gue. Some buffoon of a football team owner proudly claimed a Goan club team could win the Asi*n cup, My foot!!! If you watch his team play, I guarantee you'd be bored to tears and you wish the game never got started! Alas life goes on......its way more entertaining to sit in the balcony section at the Fatorda football ground and listen to the routines of Merguliao (he plays the clown during matches) and, has more football knowledge that rivals any of them coaches!!! Ah, hold it....I missed the game where the Minister, son of a former Referee over-turned the match officials tables because his team lost! Now that is entertaining! These days, the only thing that is entertaining! * * * UK STOCKS EXHAUSTED! After a community-supported launch at Croydon, Selma Carvalho's *Into the Diaspora Wilderness* is available at Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Price (in Goa only) Rs 295. Ask a friend to pick up a copy. Details of the book http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ * * *
