As 2023 was about to be laid to rest, an uneventful year in sports came to life after Sporting Clube de Goa beat Dempo Sports Club to the post to qualify for I League 2, putting Goa back on the pedestal it belongs, at the national level of football.
The win against Dempo SC not only added plumage to football in Goa, but showed that hard work is the key to churning professionals. Unlike Dempo SC, Sporting does not own an academy yet they were capable of silencing their foes.
Sporting’s entry into the I-league, in many ways, vindicates the vision of the late Peter Vaz, and with the team now being successfully anchored by his wife Natty – wait, watch and keep wondering.
With Sporting on a formal professional path and Dempo right behind, football in Goa is bound to see better days. With four teams from Goa in the top tier of Indian football at the end of 2023, hopes that 2024 could well see football create a niche for players in Goa just like before have been revived.
Sporting’s entry into the I-league, in many ways, vindicates the vision of the late Peter Vaz, and with the team now being successfully anchored by his wife Natty – wait, watch and keep wondering.
Football took a plunge in 2016 after Sporting Clube de Goa, Salgaocar FC and Dempo Sports Club withdrew from the I-League citing no roadmap for development after the start of the Indian Super league (ISL).
From amongst these three, Salgaocar closed shop this season with mining turning to be a dump for them but then Sporting and Dempo decided to give it a shot and both teams from Goa qualified, with the former finishing as champions and Goa starting next season with four teams at the national level – FC Goa, Churchill Brothers FC, Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo SC.
The entry of these two teams in I League 2 has definitely upped the pace of football in Goa for 2024.
By hosting the 37th National Games in 2023, sports in Goa finds plenty of new houses that should welcome sportspeople and enable them to practice in facilities of international standards. Goa is home to many good football pitches with hardly any room for other sports. The deficit will continue but going from a wilderness into an arena with parameters is better than searching aimlessly.
2023 has seen not just areas to practice and perform but plenty of international equipment now available to sportspersons. The best racquets, the best surfaces, the best boards – the best equipment has been bequeathed to our sportspeople in 2023.
The year gone by has neither witnessed the birth of any star nor any seeds showing elements of stars with most of Goa’s success stories emanating through individual efforts from out of the state. Shrungi Bandekar and Sanjana Prabhugaonkar are two individuals capable of bringing greater glory for Goa in 2024 through their individual efforts in swimming and so is Tanisha Crasto in badminton doubles.
FC Goa has ended 2023 second on the table and as the only unbeaten team in the Indian Super league (ISL) 10, but in Goa remaining unbeaten is not what brings charm to the game. It is the ability to score, not just once but again and again.
Manolo Marquez was roped in with great media hype, but as the year closes has proven to be a master ready to do his master’s billing – winning without charm – at least that has been the team’s story of 2023.
Finishing the first half of ISL unbeaten is good and seeing other teams inching to occupy slots in ISL is even better and so 2023 could well be summed as a year that has left sports on a balance with evens more perfumed over the odds.