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panjim: The much awaited Annual General Body Meeting of the Goa Football Association (GFA) was held on Sunday amid growing speculation of action of the committee with regards to the elections.
Speculation is still rife. But according to an insider, President Churchill Alemao ignored demands by the members that a resolution be taken to give the committee an extension of 90 days to stay in office.
Alemao, he said, cited a court case that has delayed the elections. This is understood to be a case against him as President as he crossed the age of 70 and was making an attempt to continue to stay in that position, allegedly flouting Sport Code norms.
Jovito Lopes, General Secretary, however was non-commital. “New statues will come from the AIFF and then the Executive Committee would take necessary steps.”
Lopes, however, refused to speculate as to when the new statues would be in place. “I haven’t received any word on details,” he added.
Victor Fernandes of Panjim Football Club said, “Technically the tenure of the committee ended on July 31 and the committee should have taken a resolution from the general body to continue till the elections.
“They have cited the court case which was filed against the eligibility of the President to continue in his position because he had crossed 70. As per the GFA constitution he cannot. The matter is still in the court and now, along with the first petition, another intervention petition has been filed regarding the continuation of the committee.
“So, the court might take a decision and the elections could be held any day now or in October, when the tenure of the committee ends even though the President put it down to the court case,” Fernandes added.
During the course of the meeting, it has been learned, concerns were raised about the poor performance of Goan teams in national tournaments including the loss to Gujarat in the Zonal qualifying tournament.
The setbacks meant the team would not play in the Santosh Trophy. Members expressed their concern at the dip in standards and the manner in which teams were being selected, sources added.
The sources further said that the recent trend of match fixing was discussed and concerns were raised that appropriate action was not taken. A member, it was learned, felt in such situations the police should be called in and they needed to do what was necessary.
The President himself took a more favourable view on Goa’s football scenario while making his AGM speech which he shared with Herald. He pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic, especially during the first two years affected the 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and to a large extent also the 2021- 2022 seasons and put a spanner in the wheels of the championships, paralysing the organisation of events.
“Despite the pandemic restrictions, we managed to resume the Goa Professional League and it was sad and unfortunate that the First, Second and Third Division Leagues, the age group Under-14 and Under-16 championships could not be held for three consecutive years,” Alemao said.
“Fortunately, it was the Taca Goa First Division U-20 championship that could resume in the 2021-2022 season,” he said.
The President admitted that the loss to Gujarat was disheartening. The GFA, he said, had now launched the Grassroots and Baby League programmes thanks to the initiative taken by Francisco Nunes.
He said, “I know that the foundation of all football growth and development lies in the grassroots, after all, all children’s football is grassroots. Clubs need to have committed BabyLeague Operators who will be engaged in the project for five years with a long- term focus.
“We have had a virtual workshop/programme with the AIFF and referred to the need to make the programme sustainable. Each club will have to build a model for sustainability,” Alemao revealed.
Speaking about the senior women’s team the GFA president said, “They could take part in the Indian Women’s League championship and the Goan representatives namely Sirvodem-PSA Dubai SC put their best foot forward in the one-month long competition finishing 9th out of 12 teams, having registered three victories and one draw, to collect 10 points.
Churchill said they would have to redouble, re- energise the women’s sector with more competitions starting from the youth age group tournaments. “The senior women put up a good fight at the Senior Nationals and made it to the quarter-finals,” he pointed out. “The same was not the case with the U-17 team, which is a pointer that women’s football needs a total revamp,” Alemao said.
To this end, he appealed to the clubs to promote women’s football as most of the clubs concentrate only in men’s competitions.
He also thanked the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for a one-time grant of Rs 50 lakhs after he made a special request for football which is the state game.
