By Rajan Narayan

EVEN on Monday, March 10 when the media in the country was obsessed with India’s victory in the International Cricket Council Champions Trophy victory, Goan media still found its space to report on the Indian Super League football tournament. Indeed, The Times of India highlighted the return of Sunil Chhetri, a football legend who has come out of retirement to rescue the Indian team.
The Monday online issue of the Goan newspaper on March 10 also had a report from local team Geno (promoted by Geno Pharmaceuticals), playing a draw with Sporting Clube de Goa (promoted by the late Peter Vaz of Models). Goans have also got trapped in the British and the European football leagues. So, every day in the Goan media, there are reports of the results of the European and UK football leagues.
On March 10 newspapers reported the victory of Real Madrid, the Spanish giant, over Rayo Vallecano for the La Liga crown. There was also a report about Chelsea, a leading team in the UK football league. Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan are great fans of Chelsea, though most Goans backed Arsenal.
WHEN I came to Goa way back in 1983, I discovered how crazy Goans were about football. Every village had a football ground and a football tournament. This ground-level tournament was taken very seriously and attracted large crowds. They were more than just football matches. There was a brass band to welcome the teams. During the break inevitably there were housie games. The supporters of both the playing teams used to gather in large numbers. I recall attending several of these village-level tournaments as the chief guest.

EXCITEMENT IN GOA
I ALSO remember the excitement when Goa, led by goalkeeper Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, won the Santosh Trophy, emerging joint-winners with Bengal, for the first time in Kolkata and then sole winners for the first time defeating Punjab in 1984. The winning team was taken in a convoy from the airport to the Salgaocar headquarters with both Shivanand and Dattaraj Salgaocar accompanying the team.
I also recall the enthusiasm when Goa hosted the Nehru Cup, an international football tournament, for the first time in 1989. This became possible when the late Francisco Monte Cruz, the then Sports Minister, created the Fatorda Football Stadium in record time.
Goa later also hosted the Federation Cup as the best football teams in the country played in Goa. The stadium used to be full for every single match. I had the privilege of sitting in the pavilion and watching the matches. And being part of the frenzy. In fairness, Goan football fans cheered all the teams equally, even though their heart was with the Goan teams.
Goa, with a population of just around ten lakh in the 80s, had some of the best football teams in the country. This included the Salgaocars, started by the late VM Salgaocar, and Dempo Sports Club, started by Vasantrao Dempo. Churchill Brothers is the team promoted by Churchill Alemao, while Vasco SC were initially supported by Chowgules, and of course Sesa Goa.

BUSINESS SPONSORS
THE Goan clubs were promoted by industrialists and Goan businessmen passionate about football. Football was not just a sport but a vocation for young Goans. The sponsoring companies paid the footballers regular salaries. They hired expert coaches to train the football players. The owners often accompanied the football players for their matches in Cochin, Kolkata, and Mumbai and more recently, in Assam. Sesa Goa, which was an Italian public sector company, started the first football academy to train young footballers in the state. This was only the second academy after the Tata Football Academy.
Football in Goa and in the rest of the country suffered a setback when the Indian Super League was set up by Nita Ambani, wife of the Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani. It was no doubt well-intentioned as it was aimed at creating career opportunities on a professional basis for football players like the Indian Premier League in cricket. Unfortunately, the spirit of healthy competition disappeared because too much money was at stake. The decision by Reliance with owns the tournament to allow the import of foreign players reduced ISL to a farce.
I don’t think local fans were very interested in seeing Nigerian players playing against other Nigerian players. Thanks to the initiative taken by Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas Dempo, Goa also acquired an ISL franchise. Unfortunately, it ended on a very sour note when there was very foul play in the finals between FC FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa. There was some bad refereeing, as a result FC Goa lost the finals by a narrow margin.
After a bitterly contested match, there was an attempt to attack the co-owner of FC Goa by officials and players of Chennaiyin. Dattaraj even filed a police complaint. Unfortunately, the whole incident left a bad taste about the ISL among Goan fans. Dattaraj and Shrinivas Dempo gave up their franchise for FC Goa. The franchise was subsequently bought by Jaydev Mody of Delton Casino Group.
There is no public support for FC Goa any longer. Indeed, ever since the private professional league was started, interest in football has slackened. The consequence is that the attendance in the football stadiums in Goa and in the rest of the country has fallen sharply.
In the last few years, there has been a welcome revival of football outside the ISL. The non-ISL Goan clubs have shown a fresh resurgence. The Dempo football team gets a lot of tender loving care from Shrinivas Dempo and has reclaimed its place as one of the top football clubs of the country. Dattaraj started the Clube de Salgaocar after his brother Shivanand Salgaocar wound up the original Salgaocar Club.

SPORTS REVIVAL
SPORTING has been revived by Nathan Diogo, the son of Peter Vaz. Churchill Brothers are back in contention and can even win the I-League this year. Several new clubs have come up to fight in the Goa Professional League, including Geno floated by Dr Sagar Salgaocar of Geno Pharmaceutical and several smaller clubs like Guardian Angel.
But the fans are not attending football matches in large numbers like in the past. There was a recent meeting of the owners of the football clubs to discuss how to bring the fans back. Perhaps they should go back to the time-tested formula of the village clubs. To make the matches a cultural event like in the good old days.
It’s unfortunate for Goa and the country, that cricket seems to have wiped out all other games in the country like hockey and football. Historically, hockey has been the pride of India. For many years, India was the undisputed Olympics champion in hockey. There are many distinguished Goans who were part of the Indian Olympic hockey teams. Football in contrast, was most popular in the states of West Bengal, Goa, and Kerala.
Football at least had the support of private businessmen and industrialists. Football was also sustained by a very large fan following. For instance the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata was always houseful when there was a match between the two local rivals Mohan Bagan and East Bengal. This is also true of matches between the local teams and teams from Goa and Kerala. In Mumbai, the Cooperage grounds has seen huge football matches.
Football was imported into Goa by the Portuguese. It is Portugal which produced one of the world’s champion footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo. Goans got into the habit of watching World Cup football before Liberation. Cricket has been basically a British import and was not popular in Goa. Goa also did not have the tradition of hockey. Goans followed the World Cup football tournament very intensely, staying up to till 3am at night to watch the matches.
I recall watching the football World Cup matches on television in the late 80s and early 90s at the Mala residence of the former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Ferdino Rebello, who was then a lawyer practicing in the high court. Goans were authorities on the English premier league and the European football league. Unfortunately, football has not received the kind of support that cricket has in the country. Perhaps there is a lack of television coverage, which has kept football back. The bulk of the revenue for cricket comes from the huge fees that broadcasters and now social media are willing to pay for the rights to carry the matches live.
The village-level tournament still attracts a lot of fans. Some way has to be formed to get the fans back for major tournaments in Goa. It is a good sign that the Bandodkar Trophy tournament has been revived by the Goa Football Association. There are enough Goan industrialists and businessmen who are passionate about football. There are thousands, if not lakhs of Goans who follow the teams in the European leagues. Goans have money and can afford to buy tickets and watch football.
Maybe Goa needs more football academies like in Brazil and other passionate football-loving countries. On a trip to Brazil in 2006, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the capital city Rio de Janerio alone had over 50 football academies with stadiums attached. This academies recruited young footballers at the age of ten, where they were provided basic education and intense training in football. When they reach the age of fifteen, if they were good enough, they are given professional contracts. World famous players like Pele are products of these academies. May be it would help if we had more football academies like the Sesa Goa academy. It is time to put the magic back into football.

MOST MOVING STORY
IN CONCLUSION, I would like to recall a very moving story about football during the Second World War. If I recall right, there was a match between the German Nazi football team and Ukrainian players of FC Start.
The most touching football legend is the Babi Yar football legend. The story revolves around FC Start, a team formed by the former Dynamo and Lokomotyv football players of Kyiv, the capital of modern day Ukraine.
It happened during World War II when Ukraine was part of Soviet Russia. The FC Start team was composed of Soviet prisoners of war who played against German team in occupied Ukraine. The final game was between FC Start and Flakelf, a Luftwaffe team on August 9, 1942. The German general had warned the Ukrainian team that they must not win the match. First start defined the German master and won the match 5-3. Soon after several FC Start players were arrested by the German Gestapo and executed at a ravine in Babi Yar. The most famous player who was killed was Nikolai Trusevich, the goalkeeper and the captain of the first start team.