Charting Goa's route to the summit of Indian football

File photo of children playing with football in India

Goa Football Association (GFA) and the Goa state have both celebrated Golden Jubilees in 2009 and 2011 respectively. Goa and football have gone hand-in-hand for the past 130 years, since its inception and it would be in the fitness of things to throw some light on its glorious past.

The Portuguese ruled Goa for around 450 years and the football legacy they left behind is still alive and kicking. This would lead many to believe that the Portuguese introduced football in Goa. To tell the truth, it was a visiting British priest who first brought football to Goa in 1883.

Father William Robert Lyons arrived in Siolim, north Goa from Udipi,Karnataka to recover from a bout of illness that he was afflicted with at Udipi. He liked Goa very much and decided to stay back. He then opened up St Joseph School at Siolim (North Goa) and introduced football in its curriculum.

Thereafter, several other schools also followed and football thus gained popularity. The seminarians at Rachol Seminary, Raia were known to have a good team and once they were ordained priests, they took it to the place of their postings in the villages. This is how football spread all over Goa.

In the villages, the patrons formed clubs to promote football. The first club in Goa named ‘Boys Social Club’ is reported to be formed in the coastal village of Colva (South Goa) in 1905. The first all-Goa tournament was organized by ‘Hindu Sporting Club’ of Mapusa, at Mapusa (North Goa) in 1930.

The Portuguese saw the huge potential in football and tried to bring in some semblance of organization to the game. As such, Associacao de Futebol da India Portuguesa(AFIP) was formed by the Portuguese in 1939. In the same year, the first ‘Goan Selecion’ was sent to Belgaum, Karnataka to play a charity match against Army Training School and raise funds for them.

For about ten years, from 1939 to 1949, AFIP tried to organize football in Goa but due to lack of funds it had to be disbanded in 1949.

However, ten years later in 1959, it was Lt. Joao Luis Aranha who was in the Portuguese Sports Council in Goa lobbied hard with the Government of Portuguese to form an autonomous body and manage the affairs of the game. He convinced the Portuguese Government that football in Goa has got a huge potential, highlighting the fact that Goans have passion for the game, argued that it could even generate some revenue and would not be a burden for the Portuguese Government.

The Portuguese Government relented and thus Assocciacao Futebol de Goa, now Goa Football Association, was formed on Deccember 22,1959 with Lt. Joao Luis Aranha as its first president.

Inter-village football, since then, has never looked back. It has grown from strength to strength and gradually became the backbone of Goan Football. In the absence of academies, village clubs acted as nurseries, giving a platform to youngsters to showcase their talent.

These village tournaments attract massive crowds and youngsters get the right kind of competitive exposure to grow in confidence at the young age. From here, talented footballers are picked up by the big clubs and thus, there is a smooth transition from the junior level to senior football.

Goan Football now at the summit owes a lot to inter-village football competitions, something very distinct and unique in this part of the world.

Goa Football Association has separate inter-village rules to govern these tournaments and players in Goa have to do separate registrations, one for the club and the other for the village.

Every effort must be made to preserve and improve inter-village football standard in Goa