With deep regret and sorrow I write these lines on the sad demise of my colleague in soccer arena the late Andrew D’Souza. Portuguese were the first to introduce the beautiful game of soccer and also to promote it in Goa. I am grateful to Portuguese for developing Goans as finest footballers in India. The beautiful art of playing beautiful soccer we Goans have learnt from the Portuguese soldiers stationed in Goa for 451 years till December 19th, 1961.As per the story going on, in late fifties at Vasco Portuguese soldiers were daily practicing and playing soccer. As a small boy, in that neighbourhood Andrew D’Souza was watching the Portuguese footballers playing and sometimes was also acting as ball boy for them. Gradually, the kind hearted Portuguese footballers started asking young Andrew to join them as one of the players. Playing with them at an early age and watching them playing beautifully, Andrew also learnt to play beautifully and thus became the most artistic footballer Goa has ever produced after Olympian Neville D’Souza from Assagao Bardez. According to Tata’s Mendon who played opposite to Neville in Bombay and Mohun Baghan’s Raman who played along with Neville in the Olympics at Melbourne in 1956 where our Goan Neville scored a Hat-Trick, during their tenure as coaches of our Sesa soccer Team in late sixties, Andrew D’Souza if not equal then at least second to Neville D’Souza as far as playing artistic soccer is concerned, among all time great Goan footballers. Mendon and Rahman were the keen observers of Goan footballers in Bombay and in Goa.
Immediately after Goa’s forcible annexation by Bharat, during the maiden appearance of Goa in the Indian National Soccer Santosh Trophy Tournament held at Madras, seeing Andrew playing the most artistic soccer and also playing the stellar role for Goa, the national Press commented saying “ Indian football if wants to improve its standard then it must learn the finest points of playing finest soccer from Goans and showered enormous praises especially on Andrew’s skills”. That was the most memorable team Goa had ever fielded in Santosh Trophy. That was the Goan team that had total inheritance and knowhow from the Portuguese soccer. Commenting on the performance of this team, Dr. Gustavo Monteiro fom Candolim and the then president of Goa Football Association who accompanied the Goa squad commented saying “the role Andrew played was so super that with his body swerves and feinting, accuracy in feeding his colleagues and shooting the ball with his right foot so placingly, he made the opponents defence mad. So much so, in the quarter final, the host team had to resort to dirty tactics against Andrew to inflict injuries on him”.
First time I saw Andrew in action was in 1963 when he was playing for Goa XI against visiting Bombay Goans XI, at Mapusa Duler, with some star players earlier representing India. Andrew was young boy then with beautiful ball control, excellent skills, cool headed, accurate shooting power in both the legs and very good running speed especially when the ball is in the Box. This type of sprinting running skill in the Box near the opponent’s goalmouth only Neville D’Souza had in India earlier, according to soccer experts. Bupinder Singh Rawat of the then Gurkha Brigade and later on of Mafatlal in late sixties came the third after Neville and Andrew, says the soccer pundits.
My tenure as first class footballer playing in senior division for Sesa Goa and as the Champion athlete of Goa was of short duration due to chronic injuries I suffered while running. But during this short period I played for Sesa Goa in the second and first (senior) divisions I had great opportunities to rub my shoulders on the football ground with all the then great Goan footballers. I had great distinction to mark and stop great Goan forwards of that era including the golden quartet of Vasco’s ABCD, namely Andrew, Bernard, Catao and Domnick. I was playing as inside right defender and was extremely good in the aerial duels and in running with sprinter’s speed to check the clever and fastest moves of top scorers of Goa. The ABCD quartet of Vasco was unique, such a quartet never came before nor after in Goa and as a matter of fact it is unlikely to come in future. Andrew was the link with the other three who were all interchanging their positions without even whispering to the other, their working was mechanical, spontaneous at the spur of the moment. Besides, their midfield was orchestrated very beautifully by the midfield Maestro Keshav of whose type Goa is yet to produce another while the defense line was manned by the two realiable generals Satyan and George Ambrose and in their goal Arvinder Singh was putting an impenetrable wall under his bar. They were very well trained in this art by their then Western coach Mr. Brown, an employee of Chartered Bank, at Mormugao.
It was at Margao Rajendra Prasad Stadium, Sesa and Vasco were playing in the final of Taca Goa in late sixties, Bandodkar was the Chief Guest. The match was heading for the draw and Sesa had an upper hand, I was at my best and as per our Coach I was instructed strictly to keep vigil on every move of Andrew. At one particular moment, Andrew was waiting for the pass from Catao outside our box for the ball while I was behind Andrew marking his move to stop him from taking that pass. When the ball reached near the feet of Andrew passed by Catao, Andrew instead of touching the ball, left it go untouched like that and to fool me behind him he simply ran the opposite direction without ball. Like a fool, I also ran after Andrew leaving the ball to go on its own way where Domnick was waiting to stop it and score from close angle. Because of this foolishness of mine I had to face scorn from the entire Sesa Sports managemet even jeopardizing my career while Andrew was hailed by the entire Goa as master tactician. Such tactics Pele was known to perform and in fact in 1970 World Cup Final against the mighty Italy he did perform very beautifully. After the match during the prize distribution ceremony, Andrew personally came to me, shook my hand and said “don’t worry, such things are bound to happen. Your are still young”. That time I was doing my first year at St. Xaviers, at Mapusa.
Andrew was a very decent and clean footballer on the field, soft spoken. I never saw him playing rough though sometimes outside the playing field he was a bit boastful of his prowess. He was called for India Camp many times but selected only once. He was the most sought after footballer by the mighty Calcutta Clubs with very good money and very good facilities but his allegiance to Vasco was final. He was on peak of his form when Vasco won the WIFA Final in Bombay in mid sixties and since then Vasco became the darling of Goans in Bombay, Andrew being the hero of all especially at Dhobitalao and Chandanwaddy he was simply mobbed and kissed by the people. After winning this cup, many of the Goans who got baby boys in Bombay were named after Andrew. When Vasco reached for the Rovers Cup final, first time a Goan team, in mid sixties, the pride and prestige of Vasco and Goa was revolving around one and only one player, that was on Andrew but unfortunately Vasco lost by a solitary goal scored by Mohun Bhagan’s forward Khannan though everyone expecting Vasco to win. Out of fear for Andrew’s skill and game, Mohun Bhagan brought their rocky defender Jarnail Singh from the Asiad Camp where he was undergoing training for the selection of Asian team. Jarnail Singh proved his worth by stopping Andrew’s moves even by committing faulty means. After the final, somebody said “To rock the Goan Rock, Mogun Bhagan broght the Rock of Gibraltar”.
In soccer, Andrew was the national hero known everywhere in India and in Kerala, he was adored like a king. I saw so many times in Kerala after the match some soccer crazy Malyalis even kissed Andrew’s feet. Such craze for footballers I have seen only in Kerala because most fanatic soccer lovers are in Kerala. So many times when I was also touring South with Sesa Goa, I saw soccer crazy Malyalis in their posh private cars coming to the hotel where Andrew was staying to take him for the Lunch and Dinner at their places. The Malyalis adored Andrew for his genius in playing entertaining soccer. In Goa he too was adored but not the way he was adored in the South.
One of his most memorable actions seen on one occasion was that, he dribbled the ball past the three defenders and halted it under his right foot for a few seconds in front of the goalkeeper alone under his bar all confused, then Andrew swerved his body to his left side keeping the ball intact under his right foot. Knowing not Andrew was feinting, the goalkeeper moved towards his right while Andrew slowly entered the empty net with the ball towards his right and brought the ball back to the centre of course to the thunderous applauding and whistling by the crowd. Such actions only Andrew could do and do the same with perfection.
In his death Goa lost a great footballer. Such footballers come amidst us only once and as such his memory should not vanish from our minds as forgotten Hero. In Goa, we have a good habbit to adore our heroes when they are heroes but bad vice to forget them when they are Zeroes. This should not happen to our beloved Andrew who almost through one and a half decade of football playing career entertained Goan soccer lovers and kept the Goan soccer flag flying high.
May the soul of Andrew D’Souza Rest In Peace and may the Heavenly God give courage to his family members to bear this colossal loss. Along with all my like minded admirers of Andrew D’Souza, I deeply mourn his sad death. His death is a great loss to Goa and soccer.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
Kuwait.
