AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
Goa is out of the I-league. We should have been out last year but somehow Churchill got carried away and went against the three other teams from Goa and decided to keep the States footprint on sands that seemed to be walked over by confusion.
Salgaocar FC, Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo Sports Club walked out of the I- League in protest over the ambiguity of the way forward. Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa first got together and parted ways with the I-league and Dempo Sports Club joined them in solidarity. It was a show of protest by clubs from Goa.
Politics played its part in sports and Churchill brothers who were casting aspersions on All India Football Federation (AIFF) and were actually fighting them in court got a call back to join the I-league and they did so without blinking an eye on whether it was good or bad.
Somehow, their relegation from the I-league can be looked as a full circle having been completed and the inevitable happening.
Churchill Alemao and his late brothersCiabro and Alvernaz have done a lot for football in Goa and Churchill Alemao may still do a lot more. I have no doubt about it because I saw a lot of football through the Alemao’s in my younger days. There was a time when Varca Sports Club, a club the Alemao’s managed, had one of the best grounds in Goa, in those days. It was the ground that hosted some good football and one of the best carnival dances– fat Saturday- of the year.
These three Alemao brothers showed their love for the game by spending hours on the pitch with their teams. However, through time they failed to realise that football needed a professional touch to move forward and had were one day asked to leave the national stage. It was in May of 2014.
Churchill Alemao is a person on whom the hat of Robin Hood fits best. He always gives what he has and that is why when he was called back to the I-league, he did not have enough to give his players.
The team did fairly well in the first season but with the ISL and I-league being held simultaneously things started getting hot as good players were no longer being available for the price Churchill was ready to pay.
So, this year, the problem with the team was not about the referees but the substance that made Churchill Brothers FC. Except for Nicholas, UttamRai and Israel Gurung , the team had no name worth salt. The boat was left to rock with the foreign players with whom football would need a longer time to reach its destination.
Despite all the obstacles the team faced it was worth watching Churchill stand by his boys – even sitting in the dugout, hoping for the best.
To me, it was an indicator that come what may, Churchill would never give up on football. Here is a man who does not have football in his blood but for whom football is a part of his life.
Churchill Alemao has spent millions on football. He could have had an empire with the money spent. However, he preferred to bring joy in the lives of many players and it will be the wishes of these players that will keep him going longer.
In a way, it was good that Churchill Brothers FC was relegated because football in not just India but Goa needs a new direction.
There is talent but no path for it to walk through. Days of paddy fields are over. Hard work is being sacrificed and instead of the best finding a place, the market has turned accommodative. There can be no harvest if there are no fields to sow the grains. This is the problem afflicting football in Goa.
Football needs direction and the path should be laid by Goa Football Association and not the clubs. Clubs make GFA, to guide them through a path. Unfortunately, this balance has been lost and instead of pointing fingers at AIFF, introspection must begin on us by us.
Goa never looked to AIFF for direction on football. We did it ourselves and did it so well that Goa was the example for the rest of India, except perhaps Bengal. There was a time when the teams from Goa; when the players from Goa set the path for other to follow. There was a time when we could believe, we were the dons of the game, the same way people in Bengal did.
There was a time when AIFF looked to Goa or GFA. Things have been changing and instead of finding ways to correct ourselves we have preferred to point fingers at AIFF. If you point one, they say, four point at you.
What if one does not have a hand? This is the problem facing football in Goa today. It is run without a hand or head.
Churchill Brothers FC may be out of the I-league. But, Churchill is not out of football in Goa. This could be the glimmer at the end of the tunnel GFA finds itself in now.
