The absence of a single player from Goa in the Indian national under-17 football team that will participate in the Fifa under-17, 2017 World Cup, to kick off on October 6, has triggered off a debate in Indian football circles.

The questions being asked include: Is Goan football dying? What is wrong with Goan football? Why is Goa – a state that produced a slew of Indian international stars and legends – now producing virtually no outstanding talent?

Ironically, the Goa government had made football the State sport five years ago and introduced the Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) to tap and nurture talent at the grassroots and has been providing a professional coaching system and a diet breakfast to the trainees.

In terms of sheer numbers, football in Goa is thriving with more tournaments being introduced – there are tournaments at the grassroot, junior, senior and veteran levels and even senior citizen exhibition matches.

The latest feather added to GFA’s cap is the AWES (Association for the Wellbeing of Elder Sportspersons) Cup. Apart from the top Goan clubs like Dempo SC, Salgaocar SC, Sporting Clube, ISL Club FC Goa, Bardez FC and Calangute FC, there were outstation teams like Gokulam FC (Kerala), Viva Chennai (Tamil Nadu), ONGC (Maharashtra) and FC Pune City (developmental squad) which participated in the tournament this year.

The Goa Football Association (GFA) also conducts the Goa Pro League and three division leagues apart from the Taca Under-20 Div 1 and II leagues as well as an under-16 and under-14 league for clubs.

They have over 6000 registered players in all divisions while the GFDC has close to 5000 children in their 34 grass-root development centres for under-10, under-12 and under-14 footballers across the state. The GFDC conducts intra-centre and inter-centre football tournaments of their own apart from running two academies of their own.

So why have they failed to produce a player worthy of making it to the U-17 squad?

Association politics to be blamed?

Goa Football Association (GFA) vice-president Schubert Furtado feels the then National coach Nicolai Adams did not give Goan players a fair chance to prove their worth even though there were several regulars in the India under-14 side.

There was a hint of anguish and anger that the reason could be because of the soured relationship between the GFA and the AIFF over the last couple of years. It is learnt that four Goan players were in contention for a place in the Indian team – Ribhav Sardesai and Amay Morajkar (both midfielders), defender Flan Gomes and goalkeeper Antonio Dylan D’Silva. While Dylan was pulled out of the Indian football academy by his parents, the three other players were dropped.

There has also been a major issue with the LOC and the GFA over the last two years and the issue was taken up with Fifa by the GFA president Elvis Gomes. There was also talk that “the GFA, as a result, boycotted the under-17 World Cup,” Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar said in a statement recently.

However, in the absence of its president Elvis Gomes, away on holiday, a GFA delegation led by Furtado, brother of former BJP minister Avertano Furtado, refuted the allegations. “We are ever-willing to be associated with the event in India. We have not boycotted it. It’s just that we have not been given any recognition. I hope the CM will intervene and give the state association its due recognition,” said Schubert after meeting Parrikar.

Even legendary Indian custodian Brahamanand Shankwalkar insists that the absence of a Goan player in the Indian U-17 squad wasn’t really down to lack of talent.

“I know of boys that are exceptionally good and could have not only made the team but could have been outstanding if they were given enough time and the kind of exposure and training the core Indian team got in the last four years.

“At so young an age, it’s not easy to prove yourself in a couple of days. Players at that age take time to open up to showcase their talent.

“I’m not saying the AIFF talent hunt did not do justice to get the best players. But the fact that they did another search in India and internationally, in 2016 after having selected a set of boys and keeping them together for three years, goes to show that, on hind sight, they might have missed out on some really good talent,” Brahamanand adds.

But that does not explain why Goa has failed to produce player of the class of Brahamanand or Bruno Coutinho in recent times? And why is that the state which would once make almost half of the starting line-up of the the senior national team now has just one player in the squad?

Dwindling interest

There are several aspects that have led to the talent pool drying up, even though you can spot football being played in every village and every available open space.

Inter-Village tournaments have more attendance than an I-League match at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda or Duler Stadium where you have more comfortable and bigger seating arrangements.

When I asked a few village friends about the lack of interest in bigger games a few years ago, they said: “What is the point in coming here when the kind of football we get to see is ordinary. Gone are the days when we would travel miles to watch a good game or some outstanding player. We had our own idols and knew they would deliver the goods. That’s why we would come to cheer them.”

Second’s Arjun Awardee and former India international Brahamanand. “Traditionally, fans would travel to the stadium from far and wide to watch the famous ABCD combination of Vasco Sports Club (Andrew D’Souza, Bernard Pereira, Catao and Dominic Soares) play. There were plenty of others.”

Pull out of big clubs from I-League

Brahamanand feels the withdrawal of top Goan clubs from I-League has impacted the ecosystem with the eventual drastic slashing of player salaries accelerating the disinterest in parents and children alike.

Goa had six teams in the National Football League a few years ago but Churchill Brothers

is the only club in the I-League this season.

“Unlike in my era, the demands for high salaries have grown today, there are lesser parents pushing their child into taking football as a career. The cost of living has shot up dramatically, as much as there is a paradigm shift in lifestyles,” says the legendary goalkeeper, adding today it’s also about hi-fi gadgets, expensive mobiles, bikes and cars, branded clothing, shoes, perfumes and more.

Former India skipper Bruno Coutinho also blames the exodus of the clubs from the National League and blames AIFF’s lack of vision or proper national road map for all state association and clubs for the problem.

“Goa’s problems have increased after the three big Goan clubs (Salgaocar, Dempo and Sporting Clube de Goa) pulled out of the I-League. It is now up to the AIFF to impress upon the Goan clubs to come back to the national league once they do away with the ISL and come up with a single league,” says Coutinho, adding just like Goa, Kerala too was once a hub of football but as the big clubs died in the state, so did their crop of players.

“There is nothing wrong with the system in Goa. It’s just that things have changed today,” he adds.

Lure of Portuguese passport and better paying jobs

Gone are the days when football was the staple diet of youngsters and a possible career option. Once the players reach the 9th, 10th standard or junior college, their parents ensure they put football on the back-burner and push them to pursue higher education, choosing a career that can assure them of a secure job in a multinational corporate with a steady income.

In comparison, the players from North East are willing to leave their homes and play across the country to make a career. “They are ready to play for a low salary, work very hard and worm their way to the top. Once they are there, they start demanding for a better salary as they have earned that bargaining power. That is not the case with Goan players of today,” he says.

Instead, most Goan parents continue to encourage their children to make a Portuguese passport and seek a better life in Europe as the cost of living continues to spiral in India. A job in any of the Gulf States or the UK, Portugal or Europe can ensure that the salary they earn there in a month would take a year to earn back home in Goa.

Under these circumstances, the coastal state would need more than just a robust competitive structure to bring back the glory day of Goan football.