PANJIM: The Goa Football Association unanimously adopted a new protest redressal system by doing away with the jurisdiction of the Appeals Committee over inter-village tournaments at the annual general body meeting held on Sunday.
It was noted that in the recent past, a large number of protests could not be disposed in time creating animosity between member clubs.
The GFA took cognizance of the fact that disputes at inter-village tournaments needed settlement immediately as these tournaments were time bound and were played to coincide with local feasts and festivals and the interests of the sponsors of such tournaments also needed to be protected.
As a result, the proposal of President Elvis Gomes to allow the GFA Official Competitions Committee along with a representative from the tournament organizer and a member of the referee sub- committees was unanimously approved.
Henceforth, all decisions pertaining to tournaments in North Goa will be disposed by a committee drawn from the South Goa members and vice-versa.
It was decided to convene an extraordinary general body meeting on October 22, where in interim arrangement matters relating to amendments to the statutes shall be taken up for discussion.
The general body also has made an exception to member clubs, from participating in any of the GFA Youth and Third Division leagues for a period of one year, taking into consideration financial difficulties of the clubs and also taking into consideration that venues would not be available considering the AFC Cup 2016 and the FIFA World Cup 2017.
The general body expressed its concern over the treatment meted out to two of Goa’s leading clubs viz Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa by All India Football Federation which has forced to consider exiting from the I-League.
“These clubs who have invested crores of rupees over decades are suddenly made to feel unwanted, and which has forced 11 major I-League clubs to shut shop, since 2011,” the members felt.
They showed solidarity and resolved to firmly stand behind the clubs and requested them to take into account the interest of the players from Goa before taking the final decision.
It highlighted the treatment meted out to the clubs for non payment of dues of the Lusofonia Games payable to the GFA to the tune of Rs 11 lakh by Sports Authority of Goa for three long years. The non response of the government to the various representations made came in for sharp criticism from the members.
The action of Sports Authority of Goa in charging for the usage of grounds for official matches, and even for the physical fitness test of the referees, was also condemned and it was noted that the declaration of the football as official sport was “meaningless” for football in the State.
The president produced records to tear apart malicious reports in a section of the media which had tried to insinuate that fixed deposits to the tune of Rs 48 lakh were broken to run the affairs of the GFA. It was clarified that the said amount was withdrawn during the tenure of the previous president and for official purposes.
The general body found nothing wrong in such matters and passed a resolution condemning such baseless reports that sought to propagate false information, and also condemn those involved in planting such malicious reports.
The key highlight of the year, the revival of the prestigious Bandodkar Gold Trophy was reviewed by the general body and hailed Sameer Kakodkar for making the organization possible with his whole hearted support.
President Elvis buoyed by the success of the tournament after a gap of 22 years, unveiled plans to organise a major international football tournament, which is likely to see participation from U-21 teams of leading European clubs, which are household names in India.
He also informed that against the Premier Futsal, which engaged top international players, which the AIFF instructed us to dissociate from, new spectator friendly formats are becoming more popular both with fans and sponsors and he is exploring options with sponsors to start GFA’s own futsal and beach soccer league.
The general body placed on record its appreciation and adopted a resolution congratulating the president for his commitment and fulfilment of the long pending dream of getting floodlights at the Duler Stadium, Mapusa and also for all his efforts in getting the Campal Football Stadium work going.
The AGM approved the statement of accounts for the year 2015-16, and the budget for the year 2016-17.
Led by Adv Albino Vales, the members paid glowing tributes to the late Vilas Rao Sardessai for his pioneering role in the development and management of football in the State.
Also the contribution of Dr Wilfred D’Souza, former chief minister; Aleixo Coutinho (player), Romeo Pires (match commissioner), Zacharias Vaz (player), Devendra Gawas (player), Tulsidas Gad, Seby Moraes, Joao Gonsalo Tavares (all referees) were remembered and their passing away was condoled.
