Forget cricket or hockey or anything of that sort. It’s just football here, Goa is a football country. Support for teams can place a strain on friendships. Goa has produced some of the most talented players to have played for the country. From Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, Bruno Countinho to name just a few who donned the national colours with acclaim, there have been several others who played for some of the big teams of the country. All this required a system to ensure players consistently came through. Of late various teams in the state have their own individual system to ensure talent comes through.
Sporting Clube de Goa recently won the Goa professional League and they have always been famed for their grassroots program over the years. Natalia Vaz now in charge of affairs following the demise of Peter Vaz said she would in the very first place be thankful to God and dedicate this to the patron Peter Vaz and she felt this was something that would definitely have made him happy. Diarah Vaz said she was absolutely pleased and feeling overwhelmed they had won the title for the second time in a row and was already looking forward to the third. She felt it was all due to their hard work. Speaking about the future she said they had plans to set up an academy. She said “An academy yes for sure in the near future. We already have grassroots level activities but due to the pandemic everything has been hit. We have plans to get into National level football.”
Clubs both big and small have grass root initiatives. Teams like Salgaoncar FC have programs that have quite a reach. Lavino Anthony Coach Salgaoncar FC said everything was at a standstill because of the pandemic. He said “We have stopped our community program. Every year we have this program that starts from October right up to March. We have groups from the age of 6- 10-12. It used to be conducted every Sunday for an hour dedicated to each age group. It used to be open to boys and girls.”
He said it was successful with 30 players selected and they then had to graduate through the u-14, u-16, u-18 and the u-20. Every year 15 players would be promoted to the professional league team. He said “We also have a 1st div team. It is a continuous process”
Charles Dias of Sesa Football Academy said everyone had their program but they were the only ones who had a residential program. He said “We check the CV, the number of games and if the player had attended any national camps. They are given first preference. We have a junior and senior program at the academy. We have the u-14, u-16 and the u-18 and pro league. You have to keep performing from u-14 and then get promoted to senior and finally the pro league. We also go to rural areas and organize baby leagues to check for hidden talent”.
Small clubs too take steps to attract talent. John Fernandes from St Savio said the pandemic ensured nothing was happening. He said “We start looking for players from age 8. We used to conduct a summer camp called FC Baga in the months of April and May. It has been quite successful. Two years ago we came third in the u-16 league organised by GFA. We drew with Sporting and lost to FC Goa and Dempo. We won the rest of the games. There are a lot of talented youth; players spotted by us have been selected for the u-16 state team to play in the nationals. Philip has been selected for FC Goa u-16 and we also have Jovito Fernandes now playing with Panjim footballers in the professional league.”
Anthony Pango Grassroots coordinator and GFA Vice President said grassroots activities would commence in August and age related competitions will start in September. He said once the meeting was held next month, then activities would commence. He however hoped the situation would improve.
Perhaps soon the empty fields of Goa will resound to the sounds of children squealing in delight as they kick a ball and a whistle informing all that a goal had been scored.
