PANJIM: With Indian football facing a crunch, Goa which is the hub of ‘The Beautiful Game’ appears to be in a similar situation. The State had a strong representation at the National and International level. But very soon Goa may lose the track since it will not have any voice as there will be no members from the Goa Football Association (GFA) in the All India Football Federation. This may indirectly hit the Goan football which has so much to give to the country in this sport.
After almost 30 years for the first time, the GFA will not have its voice in the AIFF as there will be no Goan representative in the apex body controlling football in India with Srinivas Dempo’s term as vice president (Western Zone) of AIFF ending this month.
GFA President Elvis Gomes, while speaking to Herald, made it clear that GFA had already set its candidate for the AIFF membership but the Federation manipulated the election process is such a manner that is prevented Goa from filing their nomination. The last day for filing of nominations was December 5.
“As per precedence whoever is the president of the Association has been nominated automatically for the AIFF membership but this time the Federation prevented Goa from filing their nomination by manipulating the election process,” Elvis said.
“AIFF has engineered the election process in such a way that they want only ‘Yes’ man. They have predetermined between themselves. They have told the association not to give nominations to others,” he added.
Elvis alleged that the Federation has gone against the sports code by specifying five associations for nominations as against two, as per the code.
“As per the sports code the nomination has to supported by two associations including self but the Federation has specified as five as per their constitution which is against the code.”
“We had a backing from many associations and would surely make it to the committee but the AIFF has done the arithmetic in such a way that getting five nominations becomes difficult,” explained Elvis.
“Secondly the time allocated to the association was very less. Getting five signatures from across the country on the form and then returning the same to the Returning Officer in Dehradun is practically impossible,” he added.
When the AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das was contacted for his response, Herald failed to get his response till going to press on Saturday.
With GFA making allegations over AIFF’s election process, questions were raised whether the football players from Goa would be deprived of the benefits from the national federation as they were getting earlier but Elvis made it clear that selection of players and administration cannot be mixed with each other.
“The players are chosen by coaches and the administration (AIFF) cannot interfere directly with the coaches or give preference to any player,” he informed.
“As the players are chosen by coaches but there will be nobody from Goa who can put the point across. Important decision-making process is the only worry.”
“With no GFA representative in the apex body, controlling football in India, will not affect GFA or Goa. It is the issue of development of the country at the International level. We are talking of the development of the team that will reach the World Cup and bring players at the highest level that will be exported,” he said.
“African nations are producing players that are plying their trade in the European countries where the name, presentation and money exist. We want to cross that barrier and see that our players develop very high potential so that they are noticed by other foreign clubs”.
“AIFF is the parent organisation of the country and all the associations together make up the federation. We were not getting any funds from AIFF and nor any direct benefits. GFA is in the process of development and growth of ‘The Beautiful Game’ in Goa, likewise all other State associations. And as far as the federation is concerned whatever policies are made we have to have a say in that and that is the only benefit of the membership.”
Vilas Sardessai, Shivanand Salgaocar and Joaquim Alemao are the other members who have represented Goa at the AIFF executive committee. Alberto Colaco served as general secretary of AIFF for quite a long time.
Elvis was of the opinion that Goa must get a representation in the national committee.
“The issue is what kind of policies are being made to take football forward. Since Goa has a large number of registered football players and many number of competitions (over 1,000 official matches being played in a small State), it is natural that Goa should get a representation in the executive committee of the federation”.
“The representatives chosen by AIFF are from the States that are hardly visible. As the Security Council of United Nations has five permanent members Goa has to have one representative at the AIFF,” Elvis felt.
The AIFF elections will be held on December 21.
