*Reviving Football among the Goan Community in Qatar* The Goan Welfare Association (GWA), Qatar has partnered with Al Ahli Sports Club, Qatar to revive football among the Goan Community in Qatar. It was a long awaited wish accomplished, said Simon D’Silva. Football lovers can now play every Friday from 4 pm onwards at Al Ahli Sports Club Football Ground. Al Ahli Sports Club will offer lot of support to the community and in exchange Goans are required to support Al Ahli Sports Club Football Team by attending their matches whenever they play in the Qatar Stars League/other Tournaments.
GWA will prepare a plan for football and other sports activities for Goans for the next six months including Inter-village tournaments and also inviting one of the major Goan Football Club to play for an exhibition match in Qatar like Dempo, Salgaocar, Sesa Goa or Churchill Bros., etc. for which Al Ahli Sports Club will accord all support. A formal agreement in this regard will be signed soon and Goans will see a better future for Goan football in Qatar. GWA appeals to all the football lovers including children to take maximum advantage of this new development. A team of 25 players will be selected during the practice and these selected players will be registered at Qatar Football Association to play for “GOA” Team during the First Qatar Amateur League 2013/2014 organised by Qatar Football Association beginning 11th November 2013. All are invited to participate and play football every Friday starting 4th October 2013 at Al Ahli Sports Club Football Ground, D Ring Road, next to Regency Hall at 4 pm. More details, please contact Simon D'Silva on 55550491 / 55804898. Talks are on between GWA and Al Ahli Sports Club to secure another weekday slot in addition to Friday 4 pm. ______________________________________________________ Doha Stadium Plus: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 *New dawn?* ***The proposed Amateur Football League aims to bring all those who play the game in Qatar under its banner, writes Kumar Ravi.* THE Qatar Football Association (QFA) has embarked on a mission to expand the base of the game through a systematic and methodical approach, aligning with its own Vision-2021 which, in turn, is linked with the Qatar National Vision 2030. The QFA’s Vision-2021 relates directly to the goals to be achieved before the country hosts the FIFA World Cup in ’22, while Vision ’30 and its National Development Strategy will allow Qatar to show the world what it is capable of and organise events that would remain etched in people’s minds for many decades to come. However, for the QFA, the biggest ambition is to make sure they leave a rich legacy behind, after the World Cup. It is simply not all about huge stadiums and other mega-infrastructural facilities, but also about inspiring the entire people in Qatar to make sports a way of their lives. Keeping this in mind, the QFA has decided to launch the Third Division League from this season. It is learnt from a reliable source that this is a dream project of QFA President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani. To start with, it will be called the Amateur Football League (AFL), with 14 teams participating in the first year. The QFA wants to bring all those amateurs who play football in the country under the AFL banner and then gradually transform it into a semi-professional league and eventually a professional one. According to the blue print, the QFA wants all those who are presently outside the purview of the Qatar Stars League (14 teams) and revamped Second Division (18) under the AFL umbrella, in a more structured format with uniform rules and regulations. At present, there are many football tournaments taking place in the country, organised by different institutions and companies, say like ministries, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Olympic Committee staff, Al Kass TV channel, and several communities like Egyptians, Sudanese, Indians, English, Scottish and Brazilians, to name but a few. The AFL aims to bring all these elements under a structured format and, within two-three years’ time, hopes to offer them a chance to play in the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup and prestigious Emir’s Cup. “To start with, this’ll be an amateur league, but professionally managed,” said a source close to the project. Officials linked to this project held a series of meetings with different community and company representatives and have already sent official invitation letters, signed by QFA General Secretary Saud Abdulaziz Al Mohannadi, to the 14 teams identified for the first year. As per the regulations, these teams will be assigned a home club (one of the QSL clubs) and will be given access to its facilities for training. “This is going to give us a big boost,” said Mohammed Easa, an official with the proposed Kerala team, one of the two Indian outfits likely to be seen in action, a Goan team being the other. “We’ve been conducting several tournaments for our community members for quite a few years in Qatar. The biggest problem we faced was the unavailability of grounds. “Now that the QFA has offered us access to grounds for training and playing our matches, I think it’ll give a big boost to the game among the large number of Indian expatriates. This, in turn, will help Qatar football as more people will get involved in the game at different levels, need not necessarily simply as fans as was the case all these years,” added Easa. An official with the AFL project felt assigning a particular QSL club as the home team for a particular community side would, in the long term, develop a sentimental attachment between the members of that community and the club. And within a couple of years, they would start feeling as part of the club and attend their matches. “We’ll make it mandatory for the QSL clubs to organise at least three community events a year. I see a win-win situation for both the clubs and communities. We ensure they get access to the grounds and our tournament will be played from November to June. Other times, these communities can’ve their own events and in the long term, we hope to see a transition of these teams into football clubs,” he said. “Say in 20 years’ time, we would like to have Leagues for teams up to the Sixth Division,” he added. Simon D’Silva, representative of the proposed Goan community team, said he was excited to be a part of the new league. “All these years, we had been struggling to get venues to organise our Inter-Village tournament. With big clubs demanding huge fees for use of their grounds, it had become very difficult for us to stage tournaments. There’re thousands of football-loving Goans in Qatar and I’m sure the QFA’s new initiative is a good news to all of them,” he said. He revealed that his team had already accepted the QFA’s invitation and started preparations for training and selection of its squad. As per the AFL regulations, each team can register a minimum of 18 and maximum of 30 players who have been living in Qatar for a minimum period of one year. The QFA has already conducted a feasibility study, prepared the article of Association Charter, organisational structure, budget plans, rules and regulations and plans for marketing and communications. The exclusion of expatriate communities, without offering them any involvement other than simply expecting them to turn up at matches, has been a bane of football in the country. At last, it seems the QFA has realised the need to include them in their plans. The new initiative is expected to herald a new dawn in Qatar football.
