Today at 2.30 PM I
received thru a hand delivery an Invitation
from the Village Panchayat Candolim, for the inauguration of the Renovated Football Ground at 4.30 PM on
26.04.19 at the hands of Tomazinho Cardoso (Ex-Speaker of Goa Legislative
Assembly).
The two special
invitees are Mr. Michael Lobo (MLA of Calangute and Bruno Coutinho (Arjuna
Awardee).
Let me congratulate
first of all our Candolim Panchayat for doing this job of renovating this
ground which was gifted to Candolim boys by the late Dr. Gustavo Monteiro who
along with his family has done yeomen services for the development and
promotion of soccer not only in Candolim but also in Goa. I am sure people in Candolim still
remembering the sterling feat acquired thru the spread of very high quality of modern soccer in Goa by the brother of the
late Dr. Gustavo Monteiro, the late Monsg. Chico Monteiro popularly knwown as
Pe Chico Monteiro. He had unique
distinction to meet with the then mighty Brazilian player Pele in 1958/59 in
Portugal when he, Pe. Chico Monteiro attended a foot-ball match between
Brazilians and Portuguese where Pele was playing for his home country.
As it is known to many
all over Goa, Dr. Gustavo Monteiro was the leading man of promoting Candolim
soccer and thru his guidance and support Candolim somewhere in 1957 reached
into Primeiro Divisao, that time under Goa Foot-ball Association only two
divisions were there Primeiro and Segundo.
The senior division was not existing, it was introduced somewhere in
1978/79. Later on because of his high caliber knowledge and administration in
soccer, he was inducted into GFA as the President of Goa’s apex foot-ball body
where he administered the affairs of GFA excellently. Then immediately he was invited to Portugal
where he was given fabulous welcome by the Portuguese people for his
excellence.
When Candolim team was
in the first divison, it consisted some of the players whose genii were so
great that if they were alive now and playing the same level of soccer, I am
sure they would easily walk into any of the top teams from anywhere in India.
To name a few, my both the elder brothers – Cheddo and Jose Marie, Babazinho and
Andrew Machado (both brothers), Madhu – Kamal – Satchit (all brothers from
Vaddi). They were not only footballers of very high caliber but they were
jewels of Candolim on whose legs and heads were relying the greatness of
Candolim; Babazinho was such an ace
dribbler centre forward that he would dribble past all the opponents from the
Centre till he dribbles past the opponen’t custodian and scores the goal; receiving a perfect pass from Babazinho or
Kamal or Jose Marie from the midfield, Cheddo would score any difficult goal
giving no chance to the opponent’s goalie, his right leg had such a power in it
that he would sometime during his hey days would send the goalkeeper into the net
with the ball. Candolim is yet to
produce another Cheddo since last so
many years. Jose Marie was so perfect in
scoring the goals from the corner kicks that like an Olympian High Jumper he
would outjump every opponent in the goal mouth and head the power packed header
into the net. Yet again, not only
Candolim but even Goa is yet to produce such a genius header.
The major credit for
producing such a mighty Candolim Team should naturally go to Dr. Gustavo
Monteiro who thru his personal influence acquired the services of 4 Portuguese
Pakle soldier footballers stationed at
Aguada, they were like pearls of Candolim team.
The bond between
Candolim Foot-ball activities and Dr. Gustavo Monteiro’s house cannot be
separated, what they have done for the promotion of Candolim soccer none has
done in Candolim. If today Candolim is
playing foot-ball it is because of the strong base put then by the Monteiros,
this fact nobody can deny. The ground
that was renovated we got it for our boys only because of the great heartedness
of Dr. Gustavo Monteiro and if it was into the hands of somebody else I doubt
that person would give it to Candolim Panchayat for the benefit of our boys. I have
rarely come across the very high morality and spirituality that was existed in
Dr. Gustavo Monteiro was also existing in our people. In our village people of
high caliber and sincerity are rarity and precisely because of this the affairs
of our village are gone into the wrong hands.
The persons like both the Monteiro brothers namely Dr. Gustavo and Pe.
Chico are unlikely to be born again, because such persons come in any village
only once in centuries, may be, most probably they may never come again.
When Monteiros have
contributed so immensely for the cause of soccer in Candolim, why none of the
members of Monteiros family not invited as important or special invitees? Can their family link with Candolim football
cut by anyone? When a non-Candoicar can get a prominent place for the
inauguration of this ground tomorrow then why not for the genuine person
especially from the soil of Candolim? I think some sort of injustice is done to
Monteiros though nobody can erase the excellent work done not only for the
development of Candolim soccer but also for the gift of foot-ball ground which
was rightly named after the late Dr. Gustavo Monteiro. But in the renovated ground the name of Dr.
Gustavo Monteiro is missing. Can the Candolim
Panchayat clarify this point? This
ground should be named only after Dr. Gustavo Monteiro.
The inauguration will
be done thru the hands of Tomazinho Cardoso who was a good player of Candolim
once but it would have been better if any seniormost equally good player was
given this previllege though the choice of Tomazinho is not bad. However, one living seniormost player who
played for Candolim as one of the top defenders for a long period is “Ladru” as
he is known, from Candolim Ximer should have been an automatic choice. He was
the top defender once for Chowgules soccer team at Mapusa and known as the best
defender.
A.Veronica Fernandes.
