This is in response to
the series of articles on foot-ball penned down in this column by one of the well-known
prolific writers on soccer in particular and sports in general, Irineu
Gonsalves who himself was once upon a time a renowned foot-baller donning the
colours of Goa’s famed Goan outfit Salgaocars. Being a footballer himself he
surely had a taste of seeing big-big personalities not only players but even
the administrators.
I am sure many of the
readers of this piece must be aware who was Pe. Chico Monteiro from
Candolim. In fact he was not only a
priest but he was also a Monseigneur who
preferred to call himself just as Pe. Chico only, hailing from that
revolutionary village of Goa, known as Candolim that gave birth to that world
renowned Abade de Faria the father of hypnotism and the Pintos revolutionaries
that created such a powerful effect
producing revolt, The Revolt of 1787 against the Portuguese rule in Goa. This revolution was created by the Roman Catholic
Priests from Candolim, they were coming
from the top aristocratic families, the houses of two of them even having been
decorated with Brazao by the government of Portugal. Being so close to the Portuguese they never
surrendered their birth right to fight for their rights for
independence for Goa. However, alas,
when they were right in time and about to implement
their revolution, they were caught, many of them were brutally tortured
and some were even hanged in Panjim on the especially erected Gallows near the
Post Office in Panjim. From this incident one should know that the struggle
that Goan Christians did for the freedom of Goa from the Portuguese no other
community members did. All those
non-Christians who try to defame the
Christians by falsely telling that Goan Christians were the Chmchas of Portugal
should take note of this Pintos Revolutionaries who were not only Christians
but they were Priestly class of Goans. Besides
I can cite so many evidences proving the great contribution of Christians in
the promotion of the freedom of Goa.
Coming back to Pe. Chico
Monteiro, somewhere in 1959 he went to
Portugal to pay a goodwill visit there.
Right in time when he was in Portugal, the Brazilian Selection soccer
team came to Portugal to play 2 friendlies, this Brazilian team had topmost
Brazilian footballers including Pele, Garrinha, Zagalo, Vava etc. Pe. Chico saw
both the games and after finishing the first at Lisboa, he went inside to
meet Pele in the dressing room but on the way itself he met Pele and got his
signature as an autograph. This was considered at that time a big achievement
by Pe. Chico and of course it was a big thing for a Goan to get in contact with
Pele.
Now, while reading the different
articles on the said subject written very beautifully by my friend Irineu Gonsalves, I
must show my admiration to him not only meeting with some of the topmost former World
footballers but also the top football administrators. What a wonderful job you have done Irineubab
when you met even with Joao Havalange and even having a photo with him together and who
was the highly reputed and respectable FIFA president for such a long period !!
Besides, Havalange was instrumental in bringing so many changes in FIFA for the benefit
and improvement of football Is it a
small matter to meet and click photos together with the gigantic footballers of
the yesteryear namely the great maestro Alfredo Di Stefano an Argentinian and Ference Puskas a
Hungarian? It was very difficult to come
closer to these two giants during those days because they were marked tightly by the securiity personnel. Somewhere in 1979 I read in Kuwait in the
World Soccer Monthly Magazine an article written in that magazine saying that their
rankings were much higher than that of Pele who according to W.S.Magazine comes
on third place. Both Di Estefano and Puskas were exchanging passes without even
looking at each other, one would know when exactly and at what moment the other
one would be there to receive the ball, it seems both of them were having one
extra eye at the back of their heads and it also looked like that they were
making use of some type of telepathy. The power of Puskas left foot was so
bombastic that could even break the hand of the opponent keeper. I was very fortunate to see some of his
pictures in Kuwait from British Council when I was the member of this body. The
W.S. Magazine going further said that since during the peak of their career,
Marketing and TV propaganda was not there due to various reasons including the
ill effects of the World War II, however the overall situation was totally different during the time of Pele’s peak. Secondly since they both deserted their own
counties and settled in Spain representing the mighty Real Madrid they both
were marked by their opponents and very often were threatened that disrupted
their game plans. These threats demolished their concentration power on the
ground and yet they achieved so much means not a joke.
The other photos our Irineu bab clicked together with the mighty Eusebio
of Portugal who almost single handedly so to say, destroyed Portugal’s
opponents one after the other in the 1966 World Cup with a magnificent hat-trick against North Korea in the quarter
final, was a great achievement and as as a matter of fact this hat-rick was of
rare quality and according to some pundits of soccer rarely one scored such a
beautiful hat-trick in the World Cup earlier.
Eusebio was highest scorer in that year’s World Cup. There is an inside story on this highest
number of goals scored by Eusebio which he himself confessed this story in his
autobiography “Meu Nome e Eusebio” he penned down immediately after the World
Cup in 1966. The story goes like this:
He knew he would create a dent in that W.Cup and having focused his eyes on
this prize he made an agreement with his colleague Jose Agusto by name playing
in the forward line along with Torres and Eusebio himself. This was the most deadly trio in that W.Cup
where they used to interchange their positions with lightning speed just like
more or less, what the quartet of our Goan Vasco’s A+B+C+D used to do, as I had
an experience of the fury and technique of interchanging of their frontline
positions and since I was the right back of Sesa Goa I knew this art of them
very well. Once at Vasco more or less in
10 minutes I faced 4 different Vasco’s players
playing at extreme left, one after the other, first it was Catao who was the
regular left outer but when he found it difficult to outbeat me, he was replaced
by Domnick, then by Andrew followed by Bernardo. Then Eusebio told Jose Agguto
whenever he gets the ball and when it was easily possible for him without
giving any doubt to anyone he should pass the ball to Eusebio for finishing
especially in the penalty box of opponent and since Eusebio in the penalty Box is
like a Shark in the ocean and with his powerful right footer from anywhere in
the Box he could score a goal, thus the deal was finalized with the promise
from Eusebio that a part of prize money will go to Jose Agusto.
Bobby Charleton another mighty soccer player of England and the brain behind
England’s victory in 1966 W.Cup victory
with whom our Irineubab clicked one photo that looks great. Bobby Charleton was decorated along with all
other members of that World Cup 1966 winning squad by Queen Elizabeth with the
titles of Knighthood. Besides, there may be some more photos that give a great
pleasure for a true Goan to see Irineubab like football Ambassador meeting all
those football greats.
A.Veronica Fernandes.
