Ajit John
ajit@herald-goa.com
Jaoquim Carvalho, Mervyn Fernandis and Vece Paes played for India. They were players of great flair and intelligence. And, yes, they were all of Goan descent.
Carvalho and Fernandis learned the game in Mumbai. Paes picked up the nuances in Kolkata. In Mumbai, not so long ago, the team bound for National Championship had several players of Goan origin. After all, hockey has been very popular with the metropolis’ Goan community.
The Goan diaspora spread their wings far and wide, taking their silken skills to Canada, African countries – notably Kenya -- and the USA. But paradoxically the sport languishes in neglect in Goa itself. In a sea of football, hockey is incognito. Sure, it’s played in pockets around the State but playing the sport calls for coping with imposing challenges.
Alexander Remedious, an National Institute of Sports (NIS) hockey coach knows the pitfalls all too well. “Let me cite the example of hockey in Mumbai, plagued by poor administration. It’s much the case in Goa too.
“The association in Goa is not professional in approach which means there’s no long-term plan especially when it comes to grassroots training,” the 63-year-old laments.
“After decades of waiting, Goa finally got an artificial surface, in Peddem, but the Sports Authority of Goa hasn’t come up with a plan to utilize the facility for the good of the game.”
“My boys had gone over to book the ground but they were kept waiting for two days. They were then forced to train on a private ground in Ribander. It’s sad that the facility is not being used!” Remedious laments.
Using the artificial pitch doesn’t come free. Remedious reveals that the charge is a prohibitive Rs 20,000 a day.
To make matters worse, there’s a paucity of sponsors for a game, Remedious admits, lacks popularity.
“Just six to eight teams in North Goa and five to six teams in South Goa play the sport. The inability for schools to invest in hockey sticks is the main hurdle,” he reasons.
But to develop the sport, Remedious feels that the starting point should be the under-14 age group. “Kids playing football could be encouraged to wield the stick because of the games’ basic similarity,” Remedious said.
Remedious, a former SAI coach before he switched to a post with the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, also expressed his wish to see more home grown players in Goa teams. “A player from Maharashtra once turned up at the railway station and joined the team. I want Goan players in greater numbers,” he said.
A coach who did not want to be named said teams went to the Nationals without coaches. A manager, instead went along, very often a parent of a player!
David Furtado, a former Goa captain, said things were abysmal for the last 20 years. “Just three coaches for 300 schools in the state tells the story,” he said. “And when teams travelled, it was usually in the luggage bogies.”
Furtado was critical of “sub-standard organization” of the recent sub-junior nationals at Peddem. But he acknowledged the efforts of President of Goans Hockey Xavier Marquis, a hotelier, who has been digging into his own pocket to support the sport.
Marquis, however, refuted notions of a poorly conducted sub-junior nationals in Goa as well talk of a lack of effort by the association. “We housed 29 nine teams and we managed with Rs 8 lakh from the State government and Rs 40,000 from Hockey India,” he said.
Marquis admitted that funds are a perennial problem but he finds the Sports Minister Govind Gaude focus on improving standards is heartening.
Fr Dominic Alvares of the Society of Pilar is doing yeoman service for the sport in Sattari, collaborating with the Hockey Heritage Group as well as the Stars of Sattari club. “This model could be replicated all over Goa,” Marquis said.
Is there hope on the horizon? Perhaps. Going by Sports & Youth Affairs Director Ajay Gaude, an NIS-qualified coach is bound for Goa. “He will be stationed at the prospective Khelo India Centre in Peddem,” Gaude said.
There’s then a chance for things to come together for Goan hockey. With the National Games most likely to be held in the State next year, the spin-offs holds hope that hockey has its day in sunny Goa.