Bengaluru FC win maiden I League title; Tata's go blip, blip!

Football has been played in Goa over the years. From the Rajendra Prasad stadium to Vascos Tilak maidan to the Campal grounds. The stands were mostly full. The grounds evolved through the years. The old gave way to the new. With new stands came in new styles of play. However, did the game evolve?

Some will say , yes .Others, no.  But , the league kept changing. More leagues came into existence. More money kept being pumped. Whilst some players flourished, others languished. Slowly , the fans diminished. The football eco system stagnated. Youth development was forgotten.

With Bengaluru Football Club winning the I League , the country is all of a sudden aghast. Not much money spent, yet the top laurel of the country won. Jindal Steel did a good job. A tremendous one. Suddenly , the other corporatse are up and looking. Wondering, indeed, how they managed it right.  There is a desire to join the bandwagon.

Topping the list is Tata . There are rumours that they won to own an I League club. Nothing surprising about Tatas because unlike others wanting to venture into this foray , they have always been a corporate linked to football many , many years ago. So, no surprises.

Tata’s had a football team that played in the Bombay football league years ago. Along with Orkays , they were a formidable outfit. They won the League and played soccer in other parts of the country including Goa too. Tata was a team that roped in the crowds during the then Bandodkar Gold Cup. There were some astounding games between Tata’s , Salgaocar and Dempos. They somehow livened up the Bandodkar Trophy. The trophy died and slowly did the Tata team.

One of the Goans to have played for Tata was the father of former Sports Director Suzana D’Souza and her sister Yolanda from Calangute. Another was a Goan who had settled in Mozambique-his name now forgotten. There must have been others too. It was a team followed by Goans leaving in Bombay.

After the team was disbanded, Tata did not stop their association with football. Infact the started the Tata Football Academy in 1987. The academy has been providing players of repute to the Indian football firmament.

Along with Tata’s, another few names have come up .Nothing  much is known about their intentions. They could have been propped up by the recent euphoria created by the Bengaluru  team.  Theirs might just be a bubble. So , it may one day burst. Only the honest will survive!