PANJIM: Around 25 clubs gathered in Panjim on Saturday to express their ire at the state of affairs in the Goa Football Association (GFA). Members expressed their frustration at the delay in conducting the elections. The general sentiment expressed was that the GFA President Churchill Alemao continues to defy the association’s Constitution and is illegally clinging on to his chair even though his term ended on July 31, 2022.
Anthony Pereira of Clube Sao Miguel de Taleigao requested the GFA to announce the date of the elections as fast as possible.
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Pereira added, “The term of the committee is over and the elections must be held in a month. Else we may have to take action.”
The situation was compounded by the president sending the name of his daughter Valanca Alemao as a candidate for the president’s post at the AIFF elections.
“All 184 clubs have expressed support and the presence of 25 clubs at the press conference was due to the short notice and Ganesh Chaturthi.”
Pereira said the president was treating the GFA like it was his personal property. He revealed that the clubs might approach the sports minister if no action was initiated in a month with regards to the elections.
Patwin Fizardo of Guirdolim Club alleged that matters were shoddily handled in the GFA. “My club had won promotion to the second division in 2018-19 but have not received the cup or the monies given to winners.
“A tournament like the Seamen’s Cup held every year on August 15 over several decades had not been held this year because clubs were not keen to play,” Fizardo said.
Many, he alleged, were playing in open tournaments. “This trend had been ruthlessly eliminated during Elvis Gomes’ (previous GFA president) tenure with players being banned,” he added.
“Now it seems even Churchill Alemao and his daughter had sponsored an open tournament in Navelim.”
Another club owner Peter Coutinho of Navelim Villagers Union pointed out that in 2018, the President of Churchill Brothers had issued a press release urging the GFA to conduct elections but now there are proving to be an impediment to the process.
Fizardo later referred to Valanka’s nomination for the post of AIFF president which was rejected because the returning officer found that the signatures did not tally.
“That she was elected (unopposed) to the executive committee was due to the incompetence of the returning officer.
“She should have been disqualified from all contesting any of the positions and banned from the next elections as well,” Fizardo said.
“Valanka should not be allowed to hold a post in GFA once she is elected to a post in the AIFF,” was pointed out by Pereira.
Victor Fernandes of Panjim FC claimed it was the first time ever in the history of the GFA that someone had breached the GFA constitution wherein Article 26.9 clearly affirms the powers of the executive committee, saying that it has to nominate a person for the AIFF elections and SAG AGMs.
“The executive committee has been bypassed and the president has nominated his daughter — a clear case of nepotism,” he added.
