chapter 20: Of sports… and sports journalism
Cyril D'CunhaCyril D'Cunha is a figure hardly anybody in post-1961 Goa journalism would not know. While editors came and went, he stayed on at the desk, at the Navhind Times — and contributing to many outstation journals, as outlined towards the end of this essay. Earlier, he began his journalistic career in Bombay. He is highly rated for his knowledge on Goan sports, as also acknowledged by a recent book on Goan football.
It has been such a long while and so much that has happened since, that it has become difficult to recollect everything in the sports that one has been connected with in Goa chronologically. In fact, in what follows, I have mentioned a few dates, which I can connect as correctly as per my records and memory. But in many cases, I've avoided being date-specific, only because I'm not sure of them.
The events were of different hues; but they all stamped their mark on the Goa scene in many ways and only the mean-spirited will fail to appreciate this cross-section of happenings. Agreed, we are not living in a state of hedonists, strictly speaking; yet criticisms, in any form, generally do hurt. It's an universal phenomena and Goa is no exception to that. But then, that's no reason to cringe, as after all, nobody is picture perfect.
Mind you, I'm tracing a period when TV in Goa was an unknown quotient, in the early 1960s. When the cliched few Goan icons were confined only to football players and its organisers. Athlete mates did an occasional whizz in mention, mainly those of past glory. Hockey, cricket and such other sports, as we see today, were yet to establish their mark in the state, though hockey on roller skates was played before Goa's liberation in 1961. The court at Circuit House in Panaji is still there, even if fallen into disuse.
My account is more personal and allied to sports activities I associated with, though I've touched on a few others with less authenticity.
Hockey: If there is a definite whiff of the yesteryear, particularly to my initial attention to field hockey, I have to be excused. More memorable for me, as I captained the first Goa hockey team at the Nationals at Madurai and I'm proud of it.
In 1964-65, a suitable surface to play hockey was at a premium, especially in Panaji. But there were a dedicated lot of persons, who were not deterred by this fact. I recollect carrying goal-posts and nets to the mini football stadium at Caranzalem, which unfortunately today is non-existent. This was carried on a hand-cart, with me walking alongside, all the way from the city to the ground there, a distance of almost eight kilometres.
There was a lot of enthusiasm among those wanting to play the game, with a few teams showing interest too, especially the Navy. The late Aniceto Fernandes, one of the foremost organisers of Goan hockey and football in Bombay, was mainly instrumental in giving shape to tournaments in Goa, with the help of the then Chief Minister, Dayanand Bandodkar. He also got the Goa Hockey Association affiliated to the All India Hockey Federation and even succeeded in getting a representation for Goa on the apex body.
The Dempo-Souza group in the 'sixties, decided to have a team of their own, and we all joined in. During this time, I also coached a number of women hockey players. Many of my colleagues on the Dempo-Souza team are no longer alive, but for me, they have left behind some pleasant memories. In February 1967, Aniceto conducted the Bandodkar Hockey Tournament and I was put in charge of running it on behalf of the Goa Hockey Association. Then two months later, from April 15 to 23, came the big hockey tournament for women for the Shantilal Cup, with me in charge of the north zone as the selector-cum-manager. Several players who had represented India, especially from Mysore and Bombay, were seen in action. Bandodkar must also be credited with creating a separate Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, in 1973.
The Sports Journalists Association of Goa, founded in 1982, of which I was the founder president, did organise a road roller-skating competition on May 8, 1983, which was a great success, as was the bullock cart race organised at Peddem grounds in Mapusa.
Presently, hockey is in a lamentable state, with little or no activity being held and it is more tragic because in the past, Goans elsewhere have represented India. Players like Leo Pinto, Walter D'Souza, Maxie Vaz, Lawrie Fernandes, Reggie Rodrigues, John Mascarenhas and many women internationals.
Football: Thanks to the centuries-old legacy, starting with the presence of the British troops in Goa and the Portuguese, both of whom had a passion for the game, football still remained the craze in the state and it prospered with players using the paddy fields to hone their skills. These details I have mentioned in the book I later published titled Soccer and Goa, on behalf of the Government of Goa.
This enthusiasm was carried forward by leaps and bounds, making Goa one of the most feared of states in the country, throwing up players of repute. Both the clubs and the Goa teams, won tournaments all over the country, with professionalism coming in. No less credit to the founder members of the newly constituted Goa Football Association, which was created after disbanding the erstwhile Association that existed before Liberation and 1961.
Of particular note was the staging of a football match, featuring a team of women, during the Carnival season, on March 4, 1973, at the Police ground in Panaji, between Eves and Adams. This was organised by us members of the Clube Vasco da Gama, and I will stick out my neck to say that it was the first time a match was played with a women's team. Unless, somebody can prove to the contrary.
Athletics: This universally acclaimed discipline as the 'mother of all games and sports', did not progress as desired. On August 1, 1969, Prabhakar Sinari, Francisco Braganza, Rui Carvalho, Domnic Fernandes and myself, got together and formed the Goa Amateur Athletic Association, which functions till today, though with mixed results.
We did win plenty of medals at the National level, but nothing at the international level. Among the main drawbacks were, and still are, finance, lack of infrastructural facilities, including grounds and a suitable running track and of course trained officials. The situation today is much improved, with the government providing coaching facilities and other incentives, especially at the school and college level.
Yet, apart from football, athletics, swimming and taekwondo, which have brought a lot of honours to the state in the past few years, there is little to shout about in the other disciplines. There are a lot of pontification made by the governments, often with political considerations, and these have not been good for the progress of sporting activity in Goa.
As for me, my stint in Goa has been rewarding. Being bestowed with the prestigious and highest state award, the Jivbadada Kerkar Award for Best Organiser for the year 1984-85. Reporting two Olympic Games, at Montreal and Los Angeles, the World Cup hockey at Sydney, the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bombay, where I also shared the mike for the English commentary, the Asian Games, Permit meets and Nationals in the country, in the capacity of an official, have all been a great experience, besides allowing me the opportunity to globe trot.
One also produced and edited Goa's first sports weekly titled Goal, in 1976-77, and later in 1996, I edited the bilingual fortnightly Konkan Mail, both having to be discontinued due to lack of support.
There were different reasons and circumstances for the starting of these two publications. I had been working as a correspondent for Sportsweek of Bombay, and the idea of starting the Goal came from there.
With sports picking up, one felt there was scope for a weekly focussing mainly on local sports affairs. I was aware that in a venture of this type, I would be requiring a lot of money, which I did not have. But what weighed in my favour was the fact that in partnership with a friend of mine, we had taken the Diario da Noite press, owned by Luis de Menezes, on a contract basis, to print a full-fledged paper the Goa Monitor, owned by Erasmo Sequeira in 1977, under the name of Polygot Publication, Campal.
The Goal, therefore, could be a by-product, as the infrastructure for producing it, including the printing staff, was in place. The only cost involved would be the news-print for the tabloid. As for the writing part, I was going to do most of it, while a few friends of mine promised to write gratis. Unfortunately for us, the Goa Monitor was forced to fold up, as Sequeira's press staff went on strike. It also meant the premature death of "Goal", on which one had pinned high hopes, as it was steadily picking up in sales and, surprisingly, even getting a few advertisements from big industrial houses.
In the case of Konkan Mail, the whole concept was born out of a missionary zeal.
When I approached Mathias Vaz, owner of the Maureen Printing Press, and P.M. Vaz, proprietor of Manvins Courier Service and Manvins Hotel, with the idea of bringing out a bilingual paper, which would contain news catering to both English-language and Roman Konkani readers, they immediately agreed.
Papers which published general news in Konkani, were in Devnagri script, which many of the Catholics, specially those in the 30+ age group, could simply not read. It was for this section that the Konkan Mail would cater to. While Mathias handled the entire printing, P.M.Vaz would take care of the distribution and couriering part, besides providing office space and the use of his computers in his hotel, while I would handle the editing.
The soft launch of the first copy of 18 pages, costing Rs. 2, was done by the Member of Parliament Eduardo Faleiro, in the city, where a few prominent citizens were the invitees.
For the nearly four years the paper was regularly published, there was great enthusiasm shown by the readers. But this in itself is not enough for the success of a paper, as any publisher will vouch, without advertisements, which is the main revenue provider. And that is exactly what we lacked. This could be because of a variety of factors, including perhaps, bad management. After several appeals to the readers via the editorials for such revenue support bore no results, we decided to suspend publication, as we could no longer continue suffering losses. We still hope to restart, provided the finance is available; but for the moment we haven't a clue of where this money is going to come from.
Though sports has been my first love, reporting on sports has been an add on. Except for a brief stint on the sports desk of the Free Press Journal, my main grounding on the news and reporting desk was with the Times of India, Bombay, and then on The Navhind Times and back to the Goa page of the Times of India, Bangalore edition, as a stringer, where I also did a lot of sports reporting. I believe that sports journalism helps a lot in the shaping of a good all-round writer, simply because it gives one a free reign to use descriptive language and a variety of verbiage, ordinarily not suited for general reporting.
Be that as it may, I was fortunate enough to work as a correspondent for many publications. Of particular mention was the Indian Post, run by the Singhanias in Bombay and edited by that time by S. Nihal Singh. The paper was to run into trouble later on and later had to close down. By this time, Vinod Mehta had taken charge as the Editor, and subsequently quit, to start The Independent, belonging to the Times of India group. Many of us with the Indian Post joined the editorial team under his leadership in 1989. Incidentally, the Executive Editor, Dina Vakil, who left The Independent to join the Times of India, thanked me in a letter dated May 4, 1990 for my support to the newspaper. I have my utmost regard for all these three, Nihal Singh, Vinod Mehta and Dina Vakil, for their personal gestures.
Among the other major papers where I served as correspondent, were the Financial Express for nine years, the Afternoon, the Tribuna of then Portuguese Macau, a news agency from Lisbon Noticias de Portugal and the NCWC News Service, Massachusetts, USA. It was hard work, and when I look back at those times, I am amazed how I was able to keep to my schedules and enjoy doing it.
Such challenges apart, it has been a great party always and I had a wow of a time.