Sesa Goa: Left without options
Sesa Goa has been another mine owner to provide a big boost to Goan football. Sesa Goa Sports Club was founded in 1962 with Conzen and Ferrari taking keen interest in its progress. Mr Joe Vaz, as the president has been guiding the destiny of the club after Conzen and Ferrari had left for Italy. Sesa Goa had a successful season in 1988 when it won the Governor''s Gold Cup at Gangtok in competition against all three Jeading Calcutta sides. They also won the Central Excise tournament at Cochin.
Pentiah and Iqbal coached the Sesa team in the initial stages. Joao de Mello, who coached Panvel Sports Club that won the all-India Bandodkar Gold Trophy tournament at the cost of Sesa Goa in 1974, was associated with the Club for quite a long time.
Sesa Goa won the Senior Division League championship in 1972, the year Goa hosted the Santosh Trophy for the first time.
The team then included such star performers as goalkeeper Remedios, Nicholas Pereira, Salvador Fernandes, Thomas and Minguel (defenders), Lopes, Tiburcio, John, Visitacao Lobo, Albino Fernandes, Mauricio Pinto and Ernest Braganza.
Sesa Goa finished runners-up to BSF in the 1970 Sait Nagjee tournament at Calicut. They won the Bandodkar Gold Trophy for the first time in 1978, defeating Salgaocar by a solitary Prakash Naik goal in the replayed final. Sesa emerged the joint winner with Mahindra and Mahindra in the 1980 Bandodkar tournament. They have the best record in the Taca Goa tournament, winning it four times in a row. Sesa became the First Division League Champion for the firsttime in 1967-68.
Sesa''s powerful attack from 1968 to 1974, comprised of Albino, Visitacao, Mauricio and Ernest. Visitacao was the brain behind their moves and Albino had a penchant for scoring goals.
Sesa warded off the challenge of AOC (Secunderabad) to reach the final of the Sait Nagjee tournament in 1970. Visitacao Lobo and Albino were the scorers in the second leg semi-final, after AOC had taken a 1-0 lead in the first leg. Sesa finished runners-up in the Tamil Nadu Football Association Shield tournament in 1970. They defeated Reserve Bank ( Madras) to enter the final, but lost to Southern Railway 1-4 in the replayed final. Sesa lost 4-0 to Southern Railway in the second replay of the Machado Cup final at Tuticorin the same season. The first meeting ended in a goalless draw and the two sides shared two goals in the first outing, Mauricio scoring for Sesa.
In 1971 Sesa Goa were runners-up to Southern Railway in the final of the 1971 Chakola Gold Trophy tournament at Trichur.
Sesa Goa won the Visakha Trophy at Vishakapatnam, beating Visakha District Association, 3-0, in the final in 1978. Speedy left winger Francis Rodrigues scored two and Leocald Machado, younger brother of Joseph Machado, got the third. Vishwas Gaonkar and Salvador Fernandes along with Albino, provided a strong defence for them. Gokuldas Nagvenkar, Leocald Machado and Francis Rodrigues were outstanding in attack.
Sesa reached the final with a 3-0 victory over Football Association, Ambala. They took a 2-0 lead in the first leg semi-final, Francis Rodrigues scoring both goals. Gokuldas scored the lone goal in the second leg. It was the first outstation tournament won by Sesa Goa.
Sesa emerged the joint winner of the Madura Coats Centenary tournament in 1983. They shared the honours with JCT forcing a goalless draw in the final. Skipper, Cyril Rodrigues, called the toss correctly and Sesa earned the right to keep the trophy for the first six months.
1987-88 was a productive season for Sesa Goa, as they won the Governor''s Gold Cup at Gangtok and also lifted the Central Excise Rolling Trophy at Cochin.
The All-India Governor''s Gold Cup tournament in Sikkim is usually won by the leading Calcutta sides and this time also Mohammedan Sporting were there to claim the top honours in the competition as they took their appointed place in the final.
But Sesa proved everyone wrong by putting it across Mohammedan Sporting in the tie-breaker. Sesa Goa led by Anthony D''Souza, and trained by Joao D''Mello, was the first Goan team to win the tournament. Sesa did Goa proud by winning the All-India Central Revenue Open football tournament at Cochin, beating Titanium, 2-1, in the final. They were down by a goal in the eighth minute of the game. However, their efforts to find the equaliser bore fruit in the 19th minute, when linkman Manuel Monteiro succeeded in finding the net. Anthony scored the match-winner in the 33rd minute.
Sesa Goa won the Tamil Nadu Football Association Shield tournament on September 7, 1991, defeating the Tamil Nadu State champion, Southern Railway, by a solitary goal in the final. The all important goal was scored by substitute Domnic Vaz, ten minutes before the final whistle. Domnic took the field in place of Rocky Almeida.
Sesa Goa entered the finals of the 29th Roots-TFA Shield All-India tournament, at Nehru Stadium, Madras. Sesa entered the final at the cost of WIFA League champion, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, which had scored a convincing 4-1 victory over Salcete Football Club.
Among the Goan teams, Sesa Goa gave the best showing in major outstation tournaments during the 1991-92 season. At the onset, Sesa emerged champions in the Tamil Nadu Football Association Shield in Madras, defeating Southern Railway by a solitary goal in the final.
Sesa also fared well in the Rovers Cup and the Federation Cup tournaments. But they were unlucky to lose the semi-final of both the competitions. They were leading by a goal in the Rovers Cup semi-final against Mohun Bagan, but conceded the equaliser four minutes from the end. Mohun Bagan scored the match-winner in extra time.
Sesa gave a harrowing time to East Bengal in the semi-final of the Federation Cup tournament at Calcutta. Diminutive forward Jayant Dhond put Sesa into the lead in the 8th minute of the second half. Pressing hard for an equaliser, East Bengal succeeded in restoring parity in the 28th minute. Sesa''s reliable goalkeeper, Mario Aguiar, had to leave the field due to injury and they bowed out when East Bengal scored the match-winner in the last minute of the game.
Around this time Goan football went professional and with the introduction of the National Football League, the players raised their stakes. The fee demands of the players rose astronomically. The Sesa Goa management refused to cough up a bigger budget for football, like the other big name teams, who began pumping in money. Sesa Goa''s commitment to football was more of a social obligation and they never looked to football as a business.
Sesa Goa''s performances began plummeting, as most of their players were signing up with other big teams.
The management decided to focus on making it into the National Football League, which would have then allowed a rethink of their policy. However their star forward Alvito D''Cunha deserted the team midway through their participation at the Second Division National League, and returned to Goa under the pretext of injury, to seek a better deal with bigger clubs.
Sesa Goa was on the verge of qualifying for the First Division National Football League but suffered badly in their last match, a victory being vital for Sesa, as they failed to score in the absence of their star striker. This left the management without any option, but to disband the team. They asked for an Academy instead, more in tune with their commitment of being involved with the game in a role which will benefit the society at large.
