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WarZone: The Battle For Supremacy - Bengal Versus Goa
This edition of WarZone sees Rahul Sengupta and Anselm Noronha debate on the issue of regional supremacy in Indian Football...
27-Jul-2010 6:57:00 PM
By Rahul Sengupta & Anselm Noronha
Rahul Sengupta says:
A famous philosopher had once said "A Country without history is a country of madmen". What is human life without history? Do we forget our childhood when we grow up? Of course not! Similarly what is football in India without Kolkata?
Kolkata always had a special relationship with the game of football since long. Serving home to Asia’s oldest football club Mohun Bagan AC, Indian independence got its spark after the Green & Maroon brigade defeated the British team of East Yorkshire Regiment in the year 1911.
World’s fourth oldest football tournament, the IFA Shield is conducted annually in Kolkata where teams from all across the country come and play for pride. Not only the teams from India but the tournament incepted in 1893 has seen teams from all parts of the world like Palmeiras (Brazil), Penarol (Argentina), Santos (South Africa), Pyongyang City (North Korea), Shenzen Shenhua (China) and Bayern Munich (Germany) participate in this tournament.
Clubs from Kolkata are the most successful in the country in continental championships. While East Bengal became the first ever Indian club to defeat a foreign team after beating Pas Club of Iran, the red and gold brigade became the first Indian club to reach AFC Cup quarter finals in the 2005-06 season. East Bengal also holds the record of being the only Indian club to win football tournaments on foreign soil - the ASEAN Cup in 2003 (Jakarta, Indonesia) and San Miguel Cup in 2007 (Kathmandu, Nepal).
Kolkata has given birth to innumerable football stars in the country. We still remember how the media in Kolkata showed their interest in the year 1984 when India last qualified for the AFC Asian Cup.
What is football when it is played in empty stadiums? While the attendance in the FIFA World Cup Final in South Africa was just 75,000, a local derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan had previously drawn 120,000 people in the Salt Lake stadium in 1997. A similar feat was achieved once again when Oliver Kahn played his farewell match in the city in 2008.
Football has always associated itself with money and high profile transfers. Till a certain time of period only Kolkata clubs could have afforded players with whopping salaries. Kolkata clubs were the first to recruit foreigners the likes of Cheema Okorie, Majid Bhaskar, Jamsed Nashiri etc became household names in the city of joy.
The first ever reported case of transfer fee in India was between two Kolkata clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in the year 2006. The footballers themselves admit that it is somewhat their dream to play in Kolkata at least for one season in their entire career. The love and adulation they receive from the fans and media in Kolkata can never be compared to the rest of India.
It was reported that a famous Goan club had spent thousands of Rupees distributing free jerseys and tickets to bystanders on the roads of Margao to fill the stadium in the championship deciding match in I-League. Whereas, in Bengal every single day a handful number of supporters turn up to even the practice grounds to see their favorite teams play.
Corporate interests regarding football in Kolkata always had a different economics compared to the rest of India. While Indian football administrators rue lack of finances for the game in India, money is never a problem for the City of Joy when it comes to football. We have a local league which is sponsored by Sahara (the same company that sponsors the Indian Cricket team). Every year major event management companies raise millions of rupees to bring in high profile stars and teams to the city of joy. Pele, Rgoer Milla, Diego Marradona, Oliver Kahn, Romario, Branco, Gerd Mueller and now Diego Forlan have all touched the holy city of Kolkata.
Moreover all major Kolkata clubs have their own sponsors and kit partners. While East Bengal is sponsored by Kingfisher, Mohun Bagan is sponsored by Mcdowel's and United SC have Chirag as their sponsors. Even local league teams like Tollygunj Agragami, Aryans, Kalighat Ms have their own sponsors.
While Kolkata is hosting the Santosh Trophy after a long time, they are aiming to win the trophy after a narrow miss last season. However Bengal still remains the most successful team in the tournament as they have won the tournament 29 times, which is 20 times more than Goa who now claim to have taken over the reigns of Indian football.
It is a fact that Goan clubs have won the I-League for the last four editions. But one must not forget that the Federation Cup which is an equally important tournament in India has been won by both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan for the last 5 editions. Time and again we have been hearing the professional trash from Goa and its football associations. What has their professionalism gifted us till date? None of the mainstream Goan clubs have their own academies whereas our very own Mohun Bagan academy has produced wonderful footballers like Rahul Kumar, Shankar Oraon etc.
The Indian National team today is totally dependant on three boys from Bengal. The trio of Subhashish Roychoudhury, Subrata Paul and Arindam Bhattacharya are mainly responsible for the team’s better results.
Mohammad Salim of Mohammedan Sporting became the first ever Indian to play abroad for Celtic. He was helped by his cousin brother who is also from Bengal. East Bengal forward Bhaichung Bhutia trialed at famous clubs like Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and finally signed for Bury FC in England thanks to the personal interest of a Bengali businessman named Raj Purohit who was based in London. But till today none of the Goan authorities could work on their Portuguese nexus and send a single Goan footballer to any Portuguese club. Meanhwile East Bengal was termed as the 'Best Indian Football Club' by none other than the English FA. The same club became India’s first ever club to have a collaborative tie-up with Leicester City in England.
While my Goan friends are boasting about their new tie up with Australian companies, they must note that since 2005 the Indian Football Association (WB) has a tie up with the famous Everton FC in England and their youth team coach Tony Farrel comes every year to train kids in the state.
If professionalism is the need of the hour then all the I-League clubs from Kolkata are taking adequate measures to follow the AFC criteria. While East Bengal and Mohun Bagan appointed AFC A licenced coaches, East Bengal have also recruited sports management professional as their operations manager and CEO.
Anselm Noronha says:
Nothing is won on paper, it's all won on the pitch, and Goa's rising dominance on the face of Indian football suggests just that. Goa is the first state to put their words into action by being the first to amend their constitution towards professionalism, and however much of history the Kolkata FA may boast about, the Goa Football Association (GFA) is always moving one step further in creating 'alien' history in its 50th year post inception as an independent body.
Kingfisher, the sponsors of the Goan Santosh Trophy team who are also defending champions, are title sponsors of the local professional league called the 'Kingfisher Goa Pro League' which is promoted by Procam Inernational from last season onwards. This kind of backing only suggests the potential seen by the corporate world and that Goan football is on the right track towards reaching its highs. The league also has Bollywood star Dino Morea as its brand ambassador. Kingfisher-UB Group also supports the locals' passion at the Kingfisher Beach Soccer Championships.
The state team of Goa defeated Bengal to silence the critics at last year's Santosh Trophy final. Goa will walk in as defending champions in this year's edition of the national tournament, being played nowhere else but Kolkata. With the jinx of defeats to Bengal broken last year, Goa will have no pressure like that on Bengal who now have had a barren run for 11 years straight.
The Goan football team represented India at the Lusofonia Games of 2009 that were held in Lisbon, Portugal, while the next step to follow was Goa's bid to host the 2013 Lusophony Games. On July 15, 2009, Goa won the right to host the Games in 2013 after being confirmed as hosts beating the likes of Brazil. We are hence optimistic of the fact that Goa will have a world-class infrastructure ready by then, including that for football.
It's a proven fact that Goa has the right combination of attitude and atmosphere towards the beautiful game. Goa is a paradise for footballers. Even a player like Odafa Okolie has snubbed lucative offers from Kolkata clubs to enjoy his football in Goa with current I-League runners-up Churchill Brothers. Sun, sea, sand and football - Goa is the place to be. Don't believe me? Consider this: Goan clubs have won the I-League in the last four seasons, straight!
Dempo won the last edition of the National Football League (NFL) in 2006-2007, also winning the newly coveted I-League in the season 2007-2008 and came back to win the last held I-League of 2009-2010. Churchill Brothers won their first I-League title in season 2008-2009.
Another fact to amuse your senses: For the first time, in the NFL of 2003-2004, there were five clubs from the same state. Do I have to mention that the five teams were from Goa alone? The year saw the club known as 'The Flaming Oranje' Sporting Clube de Goa make their debut in the top tier league as they joined Vasco, Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar and Dempo.
Today, Goa also boasts of 10 coaches who have successfully secured the FIFA 'A' License certificate in coaching. Among them is the coach of Dempo, Armando Colaco, who guided his team to the first ever semi-finals appearance by any Indian team in the AFC Cup competition. Besides Colaco, the other 'A' License coaches are, namely: Arjuna Award winner Brahmanand Shankwalkar, Goa's Santosh Trophy coach Mariano Dias, Peter Valles, Marcus Pacheco, Ms. Carol Fernandes, Francis Bruto Da Costa, Mahesh Lotlikar, Cajetan Fernandez, Pascoal Pereira and Matheus C. Costa. Among the provisional's to receive 'A' License recognition are, Mauricio Afonso and Anthony J. De Souza. Armando Colaco and Marcus Pacheco also hold the accreditation of Instructors approved by AFC since 2006.
My mainstay argument would be that all the history is done with, in which we had no role to play, although it is precious. What matters is, what are we doing today! Talking about what our forefathers did in their lives will not take us no further than where we are right now. The emphasis of Goan football lies on youth development which is only a hint to what more is to come.
If we really want to talk about history anyways, let's consider the inter-village football tournaments in the state of Goa which has been happening from the late '80s based on the hearty principles of passion and obsession. Many of today’s Goan footballers owe their careers to the roots of playing in inter-village teams, from where they have been hand-picked from, simply because this is where they built their backbones and they sure built them strong and tough.
Goan football has already travelled from the villages to miles across the country and further across. Take for instance our very own Indian national team. Goan football has contributed many in the past, the current team consisting of as many as five Goan players in the senior national team - Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik, Anthony Pereira, Clifford Miranda and Climax Lawrence. There is no promise that there will be any more, or less for that matter, since Goa is the best competitor to Bengal in almost any 'footballing' aspect.
And why only men, Goan women have created waves in Indian football as well. Here are the two examples that I chose to bring to light. Calangute based Yolanda D'Souza was the first woman to score an international hat-trick for India against B. K. Womens' Football XI of Sweden in 1976. The 'Madonna of Goal football' was also voted "Player of the decade," by the Womens' Football Federation of India in 1980. While Yolanda D’Souza created history in the yesteryears of the '70s, we have the Curtorim based referee Maria Rebello who created new history. Maria Rebello became the first female with a FIFA referee's batch to officiate in the 64th Santosh Trophy, in the match between Delhi and Madhya Pradesh played at Kolkata, on July 25 of the year 2010!
A famous philosopher had once said "A Country without history is a country of madmen". What is human life without history? Do we forget our childhood when we grow up? Of course not! Similarly what is football in India without Kolkata?
Kolkata always had a special relationship with the game of football since long. Serving home to Asia’s oldest football club Mohun Bagan AC, Indian independence got its spark after the Green & Maroon brigade defeated the British team of East Yorkshire Regiment in the year 1911.
World’s fourth oldest football tournament, the IFA Shield is conducted annually in Kolkata where teams from all across the country come and play for pride. Not only the teams from India but the tournament incepted in 1893 has seen teams from all parts of the world like Palmeiras (Brazil), Penarol (Argentina), Santos (South Africa), Pyongyang City (North Korea), Shenzen Shenhua (China) and Bayern Munich (Germany) participate in this tournament.
Clubs from Kolkata are the most successful in the country in continental championships. While East Bengal became the first ever Indian club to defeat a foreign team after beating Pas Club of Iran, the red and gold brigade became the first Indian club to reach AFC Cup quarter finals in the 2005-06 season. East Bengal also holds the record of being the only Indian club to win football tournaments on foreign soil - the ASEAN Cup in 2003 (Jakarta, Indonesia) and San Miguel Cup in 2007 (Kathmandu, Nepal).
Kolkata has given birth to innumerable football stars in the country. We still remember how the media in Kolkata showed their interest in the year 1984 when India last qualified for the AFC Asian Cup.
Imagine this place with a fan-filled presence
What is football when it is played in empty stadiums? While the attendance in the FIFA World Cup Final in South Africa was just 75,000, a local derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan had previously drawn 120,000 people in the Salt Lake stadium in 1997. A similar feat was achieved once again when Oliver Kahn played his farewell match in the city in 2008.
Football has always associated itself with money and high profile transfers. Till a certain time of period only Kolkata clubs could have afforded players with whopping salaries. Kolkata clubs were the first to recruit foreigners the likes of Cheema Okorie, Majid Bhaskar, Jamsed Nashiri etc became household names in the city of joy.
The first ever reported case of transfer fee in India was between two Kolkata clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in the year 2006. The footballers themselves admit that it is somewhat their dream to play in Kolkata at least for one season in their entire career. The love and adulation they receive from the fans and media in Kolkata can never be compared to the rest of India.
The craze of supporters in their colours
It was reported that a famous Goan club had spent thousands of Rupees distributing free jerseys and tickets to bystanders on the roads of Margao to fill the stadium in the championship deciding match in I-League. Whereas, in Bengal every single day a handful number of supporters turn up to even the practice grounds to see their favorite teams play.
Corporate interests regarding football in Kolkata always had a different economics compared to the rest of India. While Indian football administrators rue lack of finances for the game in India, money is never a problem for the City of Joy when it comes to football. We have a local league which is sponsored by Sahara (the same company that sponsors the Indian Cricket team). Every year major event management companies raise millions of rupees to bring in high profile stars and teams to the city of joy. Pele, Rgoer Milla, Diego Marradona, Oliver Kahn, Romario, Branco, Gerd Mueller and now Diego Forlan have all touched the holy city of Kolkata.
Moreover all major Kolkata clubs have their own sponsors and kit partners. While East Bengal is sponsored by Kingfisher, Mohun Bagan is sponsored by Mcdowel's and United SC have Chirag as their sponsors. Even local league teams like Tollygunj Agragami, Aryans, Kalighat Ms have their own sponsors.
While Kolkata is hosting the Santosh Trophy after a long time, they are aiming to win the trophy after a narrow miss last season. However Bengal still remains the most successful team in the tournament as they have won the tournament 29 times, which is 20 times more than Goa who now claim to have taken over the reigns of Indian football.
The rich silverware for the Federation Cup victors
It is a fact that Goan clubs have won the I-League for the last four editions. But one must not forget that the Federation Cup which is an equally important tournament in India has been won by both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan for the last 5 editions. Time and again we have been hearing the professional trash from Goa and its football associations. What has their professionalism gifted us till date? None of the mainstream Goan clubs have their own academies whereas our very own Mohun Bagan academy has produced wonderful footballers like Rahul Kumar, Shankar Oraon etc.
The Indian National team today is totally dependant on three boys from Bengal. The trio of Subhashish Roychoudhury, Subrata Paul and Arindam Bhattacharya are mainly responsible for the team’s better results.
Mohammad Salim of Mohammedan Sporting became the first ever Indian to play abroad for Celtic. He was helped by his cousin brother who is also from Bengal. East Bengal forward Bhaichung Bhutia trialed at famous clubs like Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and finally signed for Bury FC in England thanks to the personal interest of a Bengali businessman named Raj Purohit who was based in London. But till today none of the Goan authorities could work on their Portuguese nexus and send a single Goan footballer to any Portuguese club. Meanhwile East Bengal was termed as the 'Best Indian Football Club' by none other than the English FA. The same club became India’s first ever club to have a collaborative tie-up with Leicester City in England.
While my Goan friends are boasting about their new tie up with Australian companies, they must note that since 2005 the Indian Football Association (WB) has a tie up with the famous Everton FC in England and their youth team coach Tony Farrel comes every year to train kids in the state.
If professionalism is the need of the hour then all the I-League clubs from Kolkata are taking adequate measures to follow the AFC criteria. While East Bengal and Mohun Bagan appointed AFC A licenced coaches, East Bengal have also recruited sports management professional as their operations manager and CEO.
Anselm Noronha says:
Nothing is won on paper, it's all won on the pitch, and Goa's rising dominance on the face of Indian football suggests just that. Goa is the first state to put their words into action by being the first to amend their constitution towards professionalism, and however much of history the Kolkata FA may boast about, the Goa Football Association (GFA) is always moving one step further in creating 'alien' history in its 50th year post inception as an independent body.
Kingfisher, the sponsors of the Goan Santosh Trophy team who are also defending champions, are title sponsors of the local professional league called the 'Kingfisher Goa Pro League' which is promoted by Procam Inernational from last season onwards. This kind of backing only suggests the potential seen by the corporate world and that Goan football is on the right track towards reaching its highs. The league also has Bollywood star Dino Morea as its brand ambassador. Kingfisher-UB Group also supports the locals' passion at the Kingfisher Beach Soccer Championships.
Defending Santosh Trophy Champions Goa
The state team of Goa defeated Bengal to silence the critics at last year's Santosh Trophy final. Goa will walk in as defending champions in this year's edition of the national tournament, being played nowhere else but Kolkata. With the jinx of defeats to Bengal broken last year, Goa will have no pressure like that on Bengal who now have had a barren run for 11 years straight.
The Goan football team represented India at the Lusofonia Games of 2009 that were held in Lisbon, Portugal, while the next step to follow was Goa's bid to host the 2013 Lusophony Games. On July 15, 2009, Goa won the right to host the Games in 2013 after being confirmed as hosts beating the likes of Brazil. We are hence optimistic of the fact that Goa will have a world-class infrastructure ready by then, including that for football.
It's a proven fact that Goa has the right combination of attitude and atmosphere towards the beautiful game. Goa is a paradise for footballers. Even a player like Odafa Okolie has snubbed lucative offers from Kolkata clubs to enjoy his football in Goa with current I-League runners-up Churchill Brothers. Sun, sea, sand and football - Goa is the place to be. Don't believe me? Consider this: Goan clubs have won the I-League in the last four seasons, straight!
Dempo players celebrating their I-League title
Dempo won the last edition of the National Football League (NFL) in 2006-2007, also winning the newly coveted I-League in the season 2007-2008 and came back to win the last held I-League of 2009-2010. Churchill Brothers won their first I-League title in season 2008-2009.
Another fact to amuse your senses: For the first time, in the NFL of 2003-2004, there were five clubs from the same state. Do I have to mention that the five teams were from Goa alone? The year saw the club known as 'The Flaming Oranje' Sporting Clube de Goa make their debut in the top tier league as they joined Vasco, Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar and Dempo.
Today, Goa also boasts of 10 coaches who have successfully secured the FIFA 'A' License certificate in coaching. Among them is the coach of Dempo, Armando Colaco, who guided his team to the first ever semi-finals appearance by any Indian team in the AFC Cup competition. Besides Colaco, the other 'A' License coaches are, namely: Arjuna Award winner Brahmanand Shankwalkar, Goa's Santosh Trophy coach Mariano Dias, Peter Valles, Marcus Pacheco, Ms. Carol Fernandes, Francis Bruto Da Costa, Mahesh Lotlikar, Cajetan Fernandez, Pascoal Pereira and Matheus C. Costa. Among the provisional's to receive 'A' License recognition are, Mauricio Afonso and Anthony J. De Souza. Armando Colaco and Marcus Pacheco also hold the accreditation of Instructors approved by AFC since 2006.
My mainstay argument would be that all the history is done with, in which we had no role to play, although it is precious. What matters is, what are we doing today! Talking about what our forefathers did in their lives will not take us no further than where we are right now. The emphasis of Goan football lies on youth development which is only a hint to what more is to come.
If we really want to talk about history anyways, let's consider the inter-village football tournaments in the state of Goa which has been happening from the late '80s based on the hearty principles of passion and obsession. Many of today’s Goan footballers owe their careers to the roots of playing in inter-village teams, from where they have been hand-picked from, simply because this is where they built their backbones and they sure built them strong and tough.
Goan football has already travelled from the villages to miles across the country and further across. Take for instance our very own Indian national team. Goan football has contributed many in the past, the current team consisting of as many as five Goan players in the senior national team - Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik, Anthony Pereira, Clifford Miranda and Climax Lawrence. There is no promise that there will be any more, or less for that matter, since Goa is the best competitor to Bengal in almost any 'footballing' aspect.
The woman who became 'man' of the match
And why only men, Goan women have created waves in Indian football as well. Here are the two examples that I chose to bring to light. Calangute based Yolanda D'Souza was the first woman to score an international hat-trick for India against B. K. Womens' Football XI of Sweden in 1976. The 'Madonna of Goal football' was also voted "Player of the decade," by the Womens' Football Federation of India in 1980. While Yolanda D’Souza created history in the yesteryears of the '70s, we have the Curtorim based referee Maria Rebello who created new history. Maria Rebello became the first female with a FIFA referee's batch to officiate in the 64th Santosh Trophy, in the match between Delhi and Madhya Pradesh played at Kolkata, on July 25 of the year 2010!
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