Three Goan clubs are playing in the I-League and all three are fighting to avoid relegation. That is the sad story of Goan football. And when Dempo Sports Club met Salgaocar Sports Club at the Fatorda Stadium on Wednesday evening in a very crucial encounter, Goan football fans didn’t know which team to cheer for. Ironically, this Goan derby that otherwise invariably drew a full stadium, saw empty stands. The importance of this match couldn’t be further underlined as the loser would surely face relegation while the winner might just manage to retain its place in the I-League. In the other match being played simultaneously in Shillong at least Goans fans, whatever are there, could cheer Sporting Clube de Goa. In the end the Goa match ended in a draw giving Dempo and Salgaocar a total of 18 points each, while Sporting Clube de Goa gained three points with a victory, taking their tally to 20 and the team to the sixth position, somewhat saving them from relegation. The draw didn’t turn out to be too good a result for Dempo and Salgaocar as both are still under the threat of relegation with Salgaocar currently placed at the bottom of the table. Sporting may just manage to stay on in the league.
After the euphoria of the inaugural Indian Super League that ended in December last year, when football fans queued up outside the stadium gates at dawn for tickets that would start selling five hours later to the empty stands of the I-League matches, Goan football has taken a sudden fall from grace and form. The sudden lack of interest in the game indicates that the mass fervour that surrounded the ISL and the marquee imports was nothing but well-organized hype. The truly interested fans are those who would sit in the stands cheering their team come rain or shine, victory or defeat. This has just not been happening in the I-League.
To see Goa’s top football clubs perform so badly in the I-League would be heart-wrenching for any football fan, but times have changed. The Goan football fan now follows the English Premier League, staying up late at night to catch the matches live, rather than get to the stadium and watch the I-League. There are more fans on the roads donning Manchester United and Arsenal jerseys than the jerseys of the Dempo Sports Club, Salgaocar Sports Club and Sporting Clube de Goa.
Football has been Goa’s passion and the present government has even declared it the official sport of the State and then set up the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) for promotion and development. Unfortunately the results are not being seen. Yes, the GFDC is a long-term process and tangible results will come a few years from now, but there is also the here and now of Goan football that is faltering, and the question of ‘why’ needs to be answered and addressed.
The ISL has replaced the I-League in much the same way that the Indian Premiere League has replaced the Ranji Trophy in Indian cricket. It should have happened the other way with the euphoria of the ISL rubbing off on the I-League and the lower divisions. Aiming to play at the top can only happen if you begin playing at the bottom, this is what aspiring footballers must realize and it is in this area that football bosses must concentrate – the grassroots. Building up a team is not done by importing players, but by nurturing them. The imports should be the ones whose skills and professionalism push the local players to do better, not those who play on the field at the cost of the local players.
The Goa Football Association and the All India Football Federation must put their heads together and devise ways and means to get the football fan back to the stadium. Empty stands will not raise the standard of football, neither in Goa nor in the country. The initiative must come from the bosses and the fans. GFDC has a role to play here and it is not limited to toeing the government line. Goan football’s future is at stake and it is only the fans in the stands who can save it. Get them back.
