Dolcy D’Cruz
Football has long been woven into Goa’s cultural fabric, and the FIFA World Cup has once again ignited that enduring passion. Across the state, football enthusiasts are coming together through a variety of creative and educational initiatives that celebrate the sport beyond the stadium. These activities showcase how football in Goa is not merely a sport but a shared cultural experience that unites generations and communities. EXPLORING THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF GOA’S SPORTING CULTURE Ashish Krishna is assistant professor at the School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University, Bhopal. He holds a PhD in the Sociology of Sport from BITS Pilani, Goa. His research focuses on the intersection of sport, gender, and postcolonialism. His work has appeared in the edited volume ‘The Postcolonial Sporting Body’ and in a special issue on field hockey history in ‘The International Journal of the History of Sport’ He is currently working on a research project on the social history of football in Goa, which is forthcoming as a chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Sport in South Asia. He will be presenting a lecture on ‘The Diaspora, the Church and the Making of a Sporting Culture, An Exploration of the History of Football and Field Hockey in Goa’ on July 17 at 4pm at Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim. “My PhD was on ‘Women’s Football and Cricket in India’ and the women’s football chapter focused on Goa and football, the history of Goa and women’s football. I spoke to former footballer Yolanda de Sousa Kammermeier, who was part of the team at the time and was called the Hat-trick Queen for being the first Indian woman to score an international hat-trick. For this lecture, my primary focus will be on the early days of football in Goa and some myths regarding football. For example, the overt influence of the Portuguese on football in Goa. I’ll be addressing some footballing myths, the pre-liberation times as well as the period between 1960 and 1980,” explains Ashish. This lecture traces the history of football and field hockey in Goa in the twentieth century, addressing these persistent myths surrounding Goan sport while elucidating the foundational role of the Church and the diaspora in nurturing the region’s sports culture. Church grounds hosted early football matches, with clergy actively promoting and even playing the game; this patronage was later overtaken by industrial sponsorship that fuelled football’s twentieth century dominance.
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YOUNG PERFORMERS DANCE THEIR WAY INTO THE FIFA WORLD CUP SPIRIT
Abigail Mascarenhas and Soham Porob from Colva recently participated in an ongoing community initiative in Goa, focusing on the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It features a special Dance Reel Challenge across villages like Benaulim, Carmona, Cavelossim, Colva, in South Goa, keeping football fever high as the global tournament reaches its final stages. Donning the Argentinian jerseys, they performed a one minute dance on ‘Dai Dai’, the official FIFA song by Shakira and Burna Boy. Trained by their teachers, Anupa Narvenkar and Purva Naik of D Dynasty Dance Academy, they both performed coordinated contemporary dance sequence. Daughter of Karla Braganza and Savio Mascarenhas, Abigail is a Class 5 student at Fatima Convent High School, Margao. “She is not into sports but she loves dancing especially classical dance. She has studied Bharatanatyam for four years. They both studied for some time with the same teacher, especially dance genres like contemporary dancing and Bollywood. Their teacher trained them for this song too and they learnt the dance routine within a day. They had practice on one Saturday and then they shot the video on Sunday at Fatorda Stadium,” says Karla.
FOOTBALL FANS TEST THEIR KNOWLEDGE AT FIFA QUIZ The Sunday Evening Quiz Club organised ‘FIFA Fo Fum’, a football-themed quiz, at the Goa Business School, Taleigao, on Sunday. The event, hosted by Nitish Wagle, was open to participants of all ages and attracted an enthusiastic response from football enthusiasts. “Around 30 to 40 participants took part in the general football quiz. Six teams were formed from those who attended. The quiz was won by the team of Arnold D’Souza, Sudhanshu Parab, Mervyn Fernandes, Sanjay Parab, Rahul Upadhyay and Ankita Deb,” says Nitish. The quiz consisted of five rounds, with most questions asked verbally in a direct-answer format, keeping the contest fast-paced and engaging. Participants displayed impressive knowledge of the sport and competed with great enthusiasm throughout the event. Speaking about the quiz, Nitish says the club has been organising a FIFA themed quiz for every FIFA World Cup for the past 18 years, making it a much-anticipated tradition among football lovers in Goa.
NEW KONKANI SONG CAPTURES GOA’S FIFA WORLD CUP SPIRIT Goan lyricist, singer and sports entrepreneur Pio Agnelo Fernandes has released a new Konkani song, ‘Football World Cup Polloum-ia’, celebrating the excitement and togetherness that the FIFA World Cup brings to families and communities. Pio, who has been associated with the sports business for nearly two decades and owns a sports accessories store near Fatorda Stadium, and this song was inspired by his lifelong passion for football and the unique culture of watching World Cup matches in Goa. “Years ago, when there were no mobile phones or widespread television access, families and neighbours would gather at one house to watch the matches together. There would be food, music, celebrations and everyone would enjoy the game as one community. I wanted to recreate that feeling in a modern way,” he says. The song took about a week to compose and record and was filmed at the home of his friend Gavin Miranda, which was transformed into a vibrant football-themed venue with country flags, decorations, a DJ backdrop and a large LED screen. Family members, friends and local youngsters came together to feature in the video, creating the festive atmosphere that Pio envisioned. “The entire shoot was completed in a single day. Everyone, from children to adults, participated with great enthusiasm. It was a wonderful experience preparing the set and bringing everyone together for the shoot,” he adds. This is Pio’s second FIFA World Cup-themed song. His earlier release, created during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, had a rap-inspired style.
