By bowing down my head in reverence to Fr. Lyons for being the pioneer in promoting the Soccer in Goa and Candolim being close to Arpora and Aguada, the influence of soccer came heavily on Candolim from Arpora on one side and from Aguada on the other side and Candolim being receptive of any innovation, it absorbed soccer system introduced by the Portuguese Soldiers stationed at Aguada and the British soccer system introduced by Fr. Lyons at Arpora School was accepted by others. BTW, who is Fr. Lyons? Fr. Lyons was none other than the non-Goan young Seminarian who while undergoing his studies as a Noviciate he was afflicted with deadly skin desease and his superiors came to know that this is incurable, he was asked to leave the Seminary which he did and started moving everywhere in search of medicine for the cure of this desase till he came across one man who told him to go to Goa where there is one village called Sinquerim and you will find there Springs of medicinal water that will cure his deasease. Following this advice, he got cured and as a mark of gratitude for Goa, he started E nglish education in Goa by starting first English High School of Goa at Arpora.
Then about 150 years back Candolim villagers mainly the manual workers namely
“Xetkars – Zotkars – Paddekars – Nistekars” and others formed their own soccer team called
“PELVAN” that gained lot of popularity for
them especially when this team defeated both the Aguada comprising Pakles and Khapris and Arpora School teams
The Pelvan team from Candolim received
no formal coaching from the qualified Trainer but the team memberes of this Pelvan team by nature
having very good aptitude and strong love for playing soccer, this attitude
made them innovative on the field thus giving them impetus to play better
soccer.
My father was one of the prominent members of this Pelvan team who was
once given a Medal by the Portuguese Military Officer stationed at Aguada for
playing a very good game. The other important player of that team was my maternal Uncle Dioginho Vaz of whose type
Candolim has not produced another though my eldest brother the late Cheddo
playing for Goa Police came close to
him, Speaking on him the renowned Doctor from Candolim Dr. Gustavo Monteiro who was the President of Goa Footall Association told
openly “Candolim is yet to see another Dioginho Vas, such a player is very
difficult to come again”. And speaking
on Dioginho Vaz, the then Principal of Arpora School Fr. Mendonca who when he
came to know that Dioginho Vaz was my
maternal Uncle, he put his hand around my shoulder and praised my Uncle so much
saying and comparing my Uncle with the then famous Abu from Vasco who was like
Goan Pele and said Dioginho Vaz was much
better than Abu. MY Uncle Dioginho Vaz once when I was very small boy told me how he was better than Abu and how
Abu gained the advantage over my Uncle and concluded saying: Abu by playing in
Vasco and other prominent soccer grounds had better exposure and this is the
reason he became more famous.
In my village some of the locals who were aged and who were told by their elders that
two members of our family clan were the renown players of the then mighty soccer team Pelvan of
Candolim and whenever we meet we still hallow each other saying as: ‘PELVAN”
the meaning of this Konkani word is similar to strong, the players of this Pelvan
team by virtue of the team members of Pelvan had to be physically strong in the
fist fight too. If any fight took place on the field they had to beat and beat
their opponents on the field miserably.
They were feared on the field for their artistic game and also they were
more feared beyond the football jurisdiction. According to my father who
was one of the members of this Pelvan Team and my maternal uncle
DIoginho Vas of whose caliber Candolim is yet to produce another, the
Portuguese soccer standard was much higher and Goans liked their system and
standard.
Now, it is very disappointing to know
that in my village there is no enthusiasm in the current young boys to
play soccer as we had during our days. During
my younger days, our Candolim ground almost
throughout the year was full with local players. But now what I noticed since
recently our football ground is rented to outside teams for them to practice
and for our boys who got all the rights to use it at anytime are denied their
rights to use this ground for them as freely as ever. In this way, how we in our village develop
our football and bring back the glories
and laurels for the Candoicars in the
soccer? In the past so many of our young
boys donned not only the colours of the then mighty Sesa Goa, Dempo, Salgaocars, Vasco and others but even played
in the National and International tourneys and brought name for them and for
our great village Candolim. It is a
pity some of our villagers, the so called custodians when do not know their own fathers then how they will know the history of our historical
village? And on top of it the bloody
rascals who are settlers in Candolim want to become the leaders of our
village. Where are our genuine villagers
gone and why these non-Candoicars are given opportunities in our village? They once grab power by coming in our village
as slaves, they then fortify their positions so firmly that within a short time
they become masters of our village to
fulfill their ambitions. And as far as
our Panchayats are concerned based on my assessment on past incidents some of our Panchayats are in the hands of
“CHORS” who by cheating and fooling their local voters come to power and make
money that is illicit money Otherwise
let me know what is their purpose in
Panchayat? What are the salaries and emoluments of our
SarpaNCHAS AND OTHER PANCHAS? Last month one exSarpanch donated almost a lakh
of rupees as his donations for staging a Tiatro which means what is his income
per month and is that income earned thru proper channel? And on top it these bribe prone politicians
are roaming In society with their bare chest. Why our priests keeping their
silence on the robberies of these rogues especialy when they are
Catholics?
Since soccer has to be revived in my village, I demand that all those who are involved in this activity must begin working on its revival.
A.Veronica Fernandes.
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