Following our decision not to participate in the Goa Pro League, there has been a lot of speculation in the press and emotional outpouring from our players, fans and well-wishers in the football fraternity. We at Salgaocar FC have indeed been very touched and moved by the heartfelt sentiments shared. We would like to assure all of them that this is not a decision that was taken lightly and it was the hardest in the history of our illustrious club.
However, we strongly feel that the future of club football in Goa has reached a crossroads and we were forced to decide on a way forward. Salgaocar FC was started to promote local talent and compete against the best in Goa which consisted of many established Portuguese players. Post liberation, the purpose was to compete against the best in the country and provide a platform for Goan footballers to perform on the national stage. Various national club tournaments like the Federation Cup, Rovers Cup, Durand Cup, DCM, Seth Nagji, Stafford Cup etc provided several opportunities to compete and motivation for our players to go head to head against the best in India. This was an era where Salgaocar FC regularly had players in the National team and once, we even had seven of our players as part of the India XI. The Club produced Goa’s first two Arjuna awardees as well as several India captains and coaches. Amongst the clubs in Goa, Salgaocar FC had several national firsts to our name – the Federation Cup (four times), the Rovers Cup (three times), the Durand Cup (three times), the National Football League and then in its new form as the I-League, amongst several others. Closer to home, we have been Goa League Champions twenty times, won the Bandodkar Gold Cup three times and the Taca Goa seven times.
Over the years, the football scene in India underwent several changes, which forced us to re-examine the original vision of Salgaocar FC. With the I-League becoming a Tier-2 tournament and the introduction of the ISL, most of the historical national tournaments died a natural death and forced a number of clubs like Mahindras, Tatas, JCT, Pune FC etc to close down. Even the Federation Cup, winners of which were declared the Champion Club of India, has not been held since 2017. In 2016, along with Dempo and Sporting, Salgaocar FC took the decision to withdraw from the I-League as we did not see a future for the I-League and non-ISL clubs in India. Nonetheless, we continued maintaining the Goa Pro League team and age group teams with a full Youth Development setup. We ensured the highest quality of coaching and support for our players including nutritional guidance, injury prevention/rehabilitation sessions, psychological training and technical guidance indoctrinating them with the rules of the game and fair play.
Ever since we exited the I-League, we took a conscious decision not to field any foreign players primarily to encourage local talent. The Salgaocar FC Goa Pro League team has consisted predominantly of players who have risen through our Youth Development Program who could match other teams with established players.
However, going forward, this model will not be viable as players below the age of 18 years are not allowed to be registered in the non-amateur category. All amateur players can be transferred to a club without an NOC from the previous club. Further the team strengths for U-13 and U-15 have been reduced to 7 and 9 respectively in state and national tournaments, in turn reducing the pool of players for promotion to higher age group teams. Hence we decided to maintain only our U-13 and U-15 teams, since the feeder to the higher age groups would not exist and these are formative years for any player.
In the recent past, in addition to the ongoing difficulties, the reputation of Goan football has been sullied by various allegations of match fixing and betting. This has destroyed the very charm of competitive matches and the thrill of winning, since one never knows whether the opponent has thrown away the match or conceded more goals than merited due to external pressures. Although the current GFA President and the Executive Committee have been more vigilant and proactive, this malaise will be extremely difficult to control given the large sums of money involved.
In addition, despite all the challenges faced by us, we have not received much support from the local authorities. Although for the senior team we had made arrangements for a private ground for practices, we were struggling to find grounds for the youth age teams despite continuous dialogue with the authorities and continued assurances from them. Blocking of many grounds for the ISL practices and matches held in Goa didn’t help matters.
Going forward, we at Salgaocar FC will remain committed to grassroots development of football in Goa as we strongly believe this is the area where we can still contribute meaningfully and significantly. We will maintain the same standard of training on and off the field to help groom talent with the same sportsmanship, discipline and camaraderie that has been our hallmark since inception. Over the past 10 years, our Community Outreach Program has made thousands of children fall in love with football and that to us brings the greatest satisfaction. We will continue the program as in previous years and maintain our efforts to positively impact the players and community of tomorrow.
We at Salgaocar FC sincerely thank all our club officials, coaches, managers, players and fans for their unwavering devotion and commitment to the Club and sharing the same vision throughout their long association with the Club. Salgaocar FC will continue to monitor developments in football at the state and national level on an on-going basis and will reconsider our decision at a time when we find alignment with our original goals and purpose.
