Its akin to scoring another goal for the supporters of Manchester United Supporters’ Club,Goa when they were accorded an official accreditation by the prestigious Manchester United FC (UK) on September 17 this year. Being accorded the status two years after it commenced comes as an award for founder President, Brendon Dsouza’s efforts.
“I started the club in September 2013. It was then known as the MUFC, Goa ( Manchester United Fans Club). My aim was to build up a base of members in Goa and eventually established a good base of 500 active members. But on Facebook we have around 2000 members who live in Goa and follow us,,” avers this ardent follower of Manchester United (MU) who began his journey while still in school. “I fell in love with them ever since I saw them playing on TV in 2006. In school I soon found fellow supporters and from there it grew. I must say MU has a sizeable fan following in India and Goa. It was this potential that prompted me to start the club way back in 2013 on Facebook,” says this 21-year old mechanical engineering student.
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Two years later building up a base of members, the club complied with all the criteria of the mother club to be accredited as an official supporters club. “We received an official confirmation from the Manager of MU football club, Louis Van Gaal authenticating our status. It is a prestigious one for us as we are only one of the six clubs in India to be awarded this status,” says a justifiably proud Brendon, “Our club name along with the core-committee details features on the MU website.”
“To be recognised we needed a minimum of 50 members who have to pay a membership fee of Pds 42 (Rs 4300 approx). Secondly we had to submit a considerable amount of paper work which included establishment of a core committee through due election process; history of formation; history of the club and why official recognition is sought and finally and most importantly in keeping with the principles of Manchester United who undertake a lot of charity work, we had to establish what we had done to benefit our local community, outside football,” explains Brendon. The club was able to successfully meet all criteria, including raising funds for HelpAge India. “The main purpose of the club is to have weekly screenings of lives games which we do at two venues – one is our official club venue at Fantasia, Panjim and the other at Amigos at Gogol in Margao. We get together for lunch or dinner at any restaurant once in a while to catch up and have an annual picnic. We are also planning a lot of civic events to benefit the society,” explains Brendon of the club that has a mix of male and female members in the age group of 18 to 24 years and a social media team dedicated to handling the MUSC Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
One of the most important benefits that accrues from this membership is that members get a ticket allocation to attend a match at Old Trafford- the Manchester United home stadium. In addition each member gets a kit with MU merchandise. “We have had the privilege of meeting two MU legends – Dennis Irwin and Mikael Silvestre who were down in India. Also Adidas invited us to participate in their kit unveiling – which was done globally – by organising a kit unveiling in Goa in August this year,” elaborates Brendon.
For the young guns who are rooted in the game and their team, standing united for Manchester United FC is a dream come true.
