This isn’t a game Goa is going to win. And this game has no winners. Sport – a past time that comes naturally to children in villages, schools and stadiums, has become a murky cesspool of internal wrangling, politics and corruption. Few weeks ago we focused on the Goa Cricket Association, but we realise that virus of power trips has spread to virtually every sporting body in Goa
There are multiple associations in many sports, and where there are single associations there are vicious, no holds barred internal fights. Some associations such as cricket have grabbed headlines, while others such as hockey or even basketball or judo or karate are barely given a second glance. However, there are rivalries and fights as politicians and businessmen vie with each other to take over or are ‘invited’ to head associations. Amidst all this internecine infighting, undoubtedly it is sports that suffers.
Right from football, the recently announced State sport, to cricket, sports in the State have been promised much, but have not been able to deliver in most cases.
It is only in the sport of football that Goans still regularly excel at the national level, even as India has made no great mark at the international level.
Cricket is the other sport that has gained some popularity in the State, thanks to the large doses of cricket splashed on cable television. But for all the money that has been poured into the game, not one player has represented the country in cricket till date. The State association was affiliated to Board of Control for Cricket in India in the mid eighties. There are players like Sudhin Kamat and Dr Shekhar Salkar who have played cricket at junior and senior levels, but presently they are embroiled in a fight to control the Goa Cricket Association with Vinod Balu Phadke – who also played cricket – and the battle has become an all out dirty war.
The State of the other sports is even worse. Hockey is mired in controversy; table tennis has stagnated since the year 2000. Judo has had its moments. But this has been mostly due to individual coaches and not due to administrators.
There is a consensus in the State among those involved that today youth are not interested in sports. They have too many distractions. But also why should our youth take up sports? There are better facilities no doubt; but there are absolutely no incentives. There are many discouraging examples on how people who have excelled in sport are treated. An Arjuna awardee’s house was sold off and she had to run from pillar to post before the issue got highlighted by Herald and the authorities took cognizance. Another was felicitated outside the State but the State government while promising to felicitate her has still not done anything for her even after one year.
The most bizarre issue is of a stamp being released to honour a former Olympian in 2010 that had the wrong photo. Even after it was brought to the notice of the authorities, till date nothing has been done.
Once you get into the sport you realise that it is not talent, but influence and political connections that get you into the teams and open a window. There are allegations that the cricket team is selected by the members of the managing committee instead of the selection committee.
The same is the fate of judo – a sport controlled by Gurudas Bhakta, who allegedly runs it as his personal fiefdom. For example, the selection of the team for the Lusofonia Games did not even have a tournament to select the player, but they were selected as per tournament results and players from outside the State were roped in to fill the gaps.
Former players, especially those involved in administration, bitterly complain that the system – read administration – is totally corrupt. Though they hasten to admit that there are indeed good people still involved with sports.
“Instead of targeting the GCA, the government should investigate Goa Olympic Association. Sports Authority of Goa has nothing to do with the GOA, but is still in truck with that body,” says Sigmund De Souza involved with hockey for a long time. He alleges that politicians are fomenting trouble between the north and south Goa and this divide has hampered sports. He also accuses the General Secretary Goa Olympic Association Gurudas Bhakta saying that “the day he is out of sports in Goa, it will improve. He scuttled hockey and other sports too.”
Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar admits that there is a problem with sports associations in the State.
“We are having meetings with them,” he says, as a means to bring some discipline into the system. “But it will take two to three years,” he says even as the government has been in power for two years and nine months already.
