Curtorim Gymkhana, the football nursery of yesteryears is today struggling to sustain its position in the first division
When Dilbert Fernandes essays a pass to his teammate inIndian colours, the junior international will do so quite oblivious to thechallenges facing his club, Curtorim Gymnkhana in Goa. A first division regularfor three years, this club has been around since 1964. The club was the resultof Curtorim Athletic Club and Curtorim Sporting Club coming together.
For the man in the middle of this operation, Arnaldo Costa,President and club member for over 30 years, the challenge of generating Rs. 10to 12 lakhs every year to fund the various coaching activities and the participation in the various GFA and villagetournaments every year . He said “We are a football nursery in the state and wehave given the state and India players like Armando Colaco, Cyril Rodrigues,Anthony Rebello and we are struggling to sustain our efforts. We will continueto do so because our fathers did this in the past and we will have to continuethese efforts.”
In an effort to introduce new talent to the game in thestate the club launched a u-12,14,16 and 18 team. Trained by Joaquim Gunja, theu-14 team has been doing very well lately having won three of four matchescontested. The team is the leader in itsgroup of six teams. Training for these teams is conducted three times a week,but suspended 10 days prior to exams. In addition to these teams the club has ateam that competes in various village tournaments that comprises of playersfrom the area.
The professional team competing in the first divisioncomprise of players from all over the state. They are he said paidapproximately Rs. 5000 per match per player, making it an expensive propositionbut since they were in the first division they would have to pay these moniesto sustain their presence and performance. All this, Arnaldo said was notprofitable since the monies given when they won a tournament was a pittancecompared to the expenditure incurred. In order to sustain these efforts theclub usually organises tournaments, food stalls at festivals, and donationsfrom well-wishers, locals and politicians.
Local politicians like Francisco Sardinha and ReginaldLawrence had contributed funds to assist the club. In addition, on weekends alotto session is conducted to generate funds.
Arnaldo hoped the government would step in and contributemoney to help the village clubs involved in the various divisions. He felt thatif Rs. 5 lakhs was given to village clubs participating in the first divisionit would certainly help. This contribution should depend on the club showingproof of its various activities conducted during the course of the year. Theamount could reduce for the second and third division. However he felt theefforts would have to continue to boost football in the state. He said “What Iam today is because of my days out on the football field. It teaches disciplineand gives you a sense of honour”.
