Anant Bakhale
anant@herald-goa.com
With Indian football facing a crunch, Goa which is
the hub of ‘the beautiful game’ appears to be in a similar situation. Goa had a
strong representation at the national and international level. But very soon
Goa may lose the track since the State 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.
“Players are chosen by coaches and the administration
(AIFF) cannot interfere directly with the coaches or give preference to any
player”, he informed.
“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 national 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 1000 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.
AIFF elections will be held on December 21.
