Goan football clubs unite against controversial decision to hold cricket festival on Cuncolim Ground

Sporting Clube de Goa, Dempo FC, Churchill Bros and Salgaocar FC are against the decision to allow a cricket festival at Cuncolim Ground

Raising the pitch for the protection of the turf at the Cuncolim Ground, top Goan clubs among others today joined the chorus against allowing the ground for a 5-day Cricket festival and requested the GFA to take up the matter with the DSYA. Churchill Bros, Dempo FC, Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa through separate letters expressed concerns over possible deterioration of the surface and possible injuries to the players.

The President of GFA Mr. Elvis has said that he is surprised over the unilateral decision taken by the DSYA.

"GFA supports all sports in general. Many of us love cricket too. The Cuncolim ground is of the best we have which is showcased to even foreign visitors who scout for top quality grounds.

“This decision without taking the main stakeholders into confidence is causing worry to all. What is happening is neither in the interest of Football nor Cricket but apparently in private interest" said Mr. ,Gomes.

The ground has currently been earmarked by FIFA as a training venue for the FIFA U17 World Cup to be held in 2017 in which Goa has been listed as a most likely key venue, and an AIFF team is likely to inspect the ground again next week as a probable venue for the AFC U16 Competition slated to be held in September 2016 as a curtain raiser to the World Cup. The AIFF President, Mr. Praful Patel had once even suggested that the AIFF Academy be set up at Cuncolim.

Football Grounds have been nurtured over decades and development of the same augurs well for the future of the game in Goa. Allotting the ground for other events (sporting or otherwise) can lead to damage of the field, and the precedent of allocating grounds earmarked for should be strongly discouraged.

The practice threatens to potentially jeopardize Goa's chances of hosting events of international standard. It is important and urgent for the concerned authorities to review its decision so that the Cuncolim Ground is allotted to football purposes alone so as to not undo the good work done on developing the ground at great cost to the state exchequer.

The ground has produced top footballers like India captain Mahesh Gawli, internationals Ashok Fadte, Micky Fernandes, Fredy Mascarenhas, and many others who represented the state and top clubs in the country like Basilio Menezes, Levino Dias, Jerry Fernandes, Keenan Almeida, Raj Kumar Lotlikar, Nazareth Coutinho, Krishna Shirodkar, and Franky Pereira.