Churchill Bros.: A family powerhouse

From a modest village team, Churchill Brothers Sports Club have grown fighting hard up the rung to emerge as one of the most glamorous club sides in India and were crowned the champion club of Goa, winning the Professional league in its most recent edition in September 1999. But the path to this pinnacle of glory for Churchill Brothers was tough. Churchill Brothers Sports Club is definitely the only family club in India and were formed with the avowed aim to foster the development of the game of football in Goa and India.

Novangully, is a small ward of the village ofVarca in Salcete taluka. A furlong away from the highway, around 200 metres into a narrow by-lane, lies a typical ancestral Goan bungalow with its large balcony. And as one walks into the sitting room there is no mistaking the fact that it belongs to a family that has excelled in football and is sports crazy.

It would not be difficult to guess the name of that family today. The Churchill Alemao family made so famous by the football team - Churchill Brothers Sports Club. Shelves have been built along the walls of the sitting room, which rise to just

about touch the ceiling - minus about three feet. Cups and trophies of all shapes - some artistically sculpted - and sizes adorn these shelves. The floor too isn''t empty. Big showcases in two comers proudly display more trophies. Flags, emblems, jerseys and souvenirs are hung or placed all over the colourful and tastefully decorated room. In today''s world of corporate support and other backing, individual or family efforts are as rare as rubies.

But, here is an example that is trendsetting and mind-boggling too, if only for its magnitude. Their love for football is such that whenever their team loses a match, the home turns chaotic with discussions which turn into heated arguments and sometimes end up in fights, all in good and humorous spirit. "We do not mind suffering a loss in the business, but when we learn that the team has lost, we become upset and things go awry at home" says Joaquim Alemao one of the brothers.

The brothers have come a long way from being mere players for the Varca club to forming their own team, which initially began participating in the inter-village tournaments. The thrill of playing and fielding young, energetic and talented players from all over Goa culminated in the habit of winning. And each victory increased the family''s resolve to win and increase the trophy collection at home. Success in the form of small wins compelled them to begin looking at bigger tournaments. Every victory acted like an aphrodisiac, which sent their spirits soaring. Football made them famous and they, in turn, made football their way of life.

Churchill Brothers family commands a lot of respect in the football circles of Goa, mainly because of their ambition to contribute generously towards the game. Today it is common knowledge that Churchill Brothers Sports Club has matured into a highly competitive team in all respects and is capable oflocking horns with any team worth the name in the country.

Before Churchill Brothers Sports Club was born, it was Varca Sports Club that enjoyed the patronage of Churchill Alemao, the eldest of the Alemaos. This was a period when professional rules were absent and individuals and corporates sustained players according to their capabilities. Varca Sports Club was handed over to the Madras Rubber Factory (MRF) management in order to keep the players gainfully employed, Churchill Alemao said, while tracing the history of the club. "But MRF closed their doors in the early 90s and I decided to step in to take care of the footballers who were left in the lurch. Players who had spent their whole life for football found themselves on the streets. I had by then started afresh with a new team four years earlier," he informed.

After Varca became MRF, Churchill informed, there was a proposal to field another team in his name. But since Churchill wanted to involve his brothers too, it was called Churchill Brothers Sports Club. All the brothers joined hands in nurturing this fledgling team. "It was then that our direct support for football began," says Churchill Alemao. The club, which survived, for quite a lengthy time on local talent, is now in a position to sign good foreign players apart from a set of fine talent from other states in India.

But everything was not smooth sailing for Churchill Brothers who had to build from scratch as a third division team in the Goa league. But within three years it made its maiden entry into the first division. A tremendous achievement, indeed, and a sound indication of their rapid progress. Soon everybody. began to take notice of Churchill Bros., who though not in the same bracket as Dempo, Salgaocar and Vasco clubs, definitely progressed steadily in that direction. It was only a matter of time before Churchill Bros. transformed into a force to reckon with and soon Goa had its own answer to the Calcutta giants with Churchill Bros. joining the elite clubs of Goa - Salgaocars, Vasco and Dempo.

Churchill Bros. have been the Goa league champions in 1994­95, 1995-96 and 1996~97, stood second in the Goa Professional league in 1998 and emerged as the champion club in 1999. Continuing with their string of successes in 1999, they have taken home the Police Cup after a long drawn out campaign. The club also lifted the Taca Goa in 1994 and retained it for the next two years.

Churchill Bros. have also made a mark all over the country having emerged as the runners-up of the inaugural Philips National Football League although they slipped to third place in the 1998-99 edition. Churchill Bros have not been fortunate enough to win the Rovers Cup. They were the runners up in 1997, semifinalist in 1998 and had to be content with being the runners up once again in 1999. Churchill Bros. also took part in the Naya Dunia Football tournament at Indore and Rockfort football tourney at Tiruchirapally, in Tamil Nadu. They were the semifinalists in the 1997 IFA shield and obtained third place in the 1998 Federation Cup tournament.

Churchill Bros made their impact in the desert sands of the Gulf too, emerging runners up of the Dubai International tournament in 1997. Asian Cup Winners Cup is also part of their other international appearance. In the Dubai Shopping Festival International Tournament in 1997, Churchill Bros started with a bang by hammering Old Benedictines, Colombo 3-0. But in f the finals they lost to the champion club ofUAE, Al Wasl Sports Club, taking a beating of 4-2. As Churchill recalls, "until the half time we matched Al Wasl move for move and skill for skill. But after the breather they brought in World Cup players and the entire complexion of the game changed and they beat us. But credit must be given to our boys who put up an impressive performance against them."

Churchill Brothers Sports Club is the second Goan team to play in the Asia Cup Winners Cup after Salgaocar Sports Club. In their home match played against Dong Thap of Vietnam, Churchill Bros. played enterprising and exciting football. But they were very unfortunate to lose that match since they never recovered from the one goal deficit conceded in the first five minutes despite dominating the entire proceedings of the game.

The return match, in Hanoi, Vietnam, ended in a draw but it holds cherished memories for Churchill because the crowd gave the Churchill team a standing ovation at the end of the game for displaying beautiful football. The guts and courage of their goalkeeper Joe Boy in this game drew admiration, as he continued to play till the final whistle, despite suffering a fractured finger and even saved a penalty with the injured hand. This game will always be remembered by the Churchill brothers not only for their great performance but also for the wonderful warmth, affection and care shown by the Vietnam Football Association and their government.

Churchill Bros has an impressive list of players who have helped the club in its march towards fame and glory. Some of the Goans who were responsible for the club''s winning performances include Danzie Ferrao, Franky Barreto, Hercules Gomes, Mario Soares and Marcus ,Carvalho. At one time Brahmanand Shankwalkar, the only Arjuna Awardee from Goa also guarded the nets for the team.

The most amazing aspect of Churchill Brothers has been their ability to match the Calcutta glamour clubs and others in luring domestic and foreign talent. The Churchill Bros management seems to follow the thinking that domestic talent will benefit playing with foreign talent, learning better techniques and skill and excelling. Foreign exposure is also vital for the club''s progress, they say.

Over the years, Churchill Bros has built up a long list of players roped in from countries like Nigeria and Ghana etc. like for instance Amos, Valentino Euzego, Kasim, Okeke, Chibuzor, Percy Mwase, Bernard Ondigo, Tamsa, Bassim Yonan and Jose Martins, to name a few who are the foreign players who donned colours of the team over the years. Churchill Bros has infact been frequently accused of accommodating more foreign and Indian players than Goans in the team. The contention is that the presence of non-Goans and foreign imports has prevented a lot of local talent from joining the ranks of Churchill Bros. The Alemao brothers defend this policy of recruiting non-Goan talent by saying that the presence of outsiders has helped football in Goa and in India to a great extent. In Churchill''s own words: "I have been criticised for signing on many outsiders. Yes, I do agree but that has been deliberately done. I don''t have a company to offer jobs to players. All Goan players ask for jobs, whereas outside players are ready to play on a yearly contract, which suits us fine."

The brothers further point out that the presence of good foreign players is imperative if football standards have to improve in the country. "My sole intention is to raise the standard of Goan and Indian football.Only if you play against better footballers will your own game improve," says Joaquim Alemao, the President of Churchill Brothers.

He feels that Indian players have improved especially in "off the ball running" by practicing with the foreign players. Adds Churchill, "In the current season of 2000-2001 I am very proud to have Edward Ansah and Osuman Husseni the two Ghanaians who are rendering their services and making''a lot of difference to my team."

Churchill Brothers'' tremendous success story couldn''t have been complete without former coach Danny McLennan, their tactical chieftain from Scotland, who has guided the cosmopolitan team so remarkably within a short period of time, thanks to Technical Director of the club, Armando Colaco, who was instrumental in roping in McLennan.

Churchill agrees that McLennan has guided the team in the right direction. "Danny has taken the team to very high levels," says Churchill.

Under the guidance of McLennan, Churchill Bros were on the brink to taking the national honours, in the inaugural year of the National league, but unfortunately they faltered on the last day and finished second.

Before the advent of Danny, there were others who laid a good foundation for Churchill Bros team with their excellent training abilities, former star defender T. K. Chatunni being out among those.

Churchill says that the situation for them is very complex. The Churchill family has an unquestioned commitment and concern towards football and their single-minded struggle and endeavour is to raise the standards of the game and help the local boys with money and employment. "Being in football and politics at the same time has created its own problems. Because of our political party affiliations, we do not receive the support as other Goan teams do. I will always strive hard to promote football and I am proud that irrespective of the circumstances, my boys have always played to their full potential with exciting football and earned us a lot of respect allover the country," Churchill added.

The following are the other players who took part in the success of Churchill Brothers from the time of their inception in 1987 till date.
Roy Miranda, Roque Alfred Fernandes, Zara, Antush, Agnelo Dias, Pinto, Agnelo Fernandes, Joe Boy, Avertano, Luciano, Manuel Po, Mario Rodrigues, Paskelino, Carlisto Mendes, George Fernandes, Adriano Dias, Camilo Batist, Mathew D''Costa, Roque Carneiro, Mathew Rodrigues, Anthony Tavares, Joeboy (Velsao), Hercules Gomes, Praveen Fernandes, Orlando Viegas, Fausto Lobo, Somatai Shaiza, Bibian Fernandes, Nixon Luis, Robin, Ratan Singh, Kasim Khosvagar, Valentino Euzego, Percy Mwase, Meek Okeke, Chibuzor Nwakasina, Philip Mensah, Oscar Hunda, Jose Martins, Gurinder Pal Singh, Kasif Jamal, Gautam Ghosh, Amit Ghosh, Bitan Singh, Martin Dias, Anthony Mathews, Virender Singh, Anthony Mathews, Anthony Pereira, Anthony Fernandes, Cyril Barreto, Rocky Barreto, Kaustav Ghosh, Khelendro, Vijayan Arland, Mahesh Singh, Lepcha, Casmiro Palha, Seby Fernandes, Xavier Fernandes and Francis Silveira.

Being the only family club in the whole of India, the greatest achievement of Churchill Brothers SC has been perhaps their ability to survive in the highly competitive world of top level football. Not only have they survived but today, are rated as one of the best teams in the country. Dipping into their scarce resources and depriving the large Alemao family of many comforts and luxuries. Churchill, Joaquim and their brothers have kept the club afloat till the 1999-2000 season, despite the ever increasing financial demands in maintaining one of the best football teams in India.

However at the start of the 2000-2001 season the Alemao family pulled out a major surprise, and made it public that the Churchill Bros team had found not only a sponsor buta majority partner in Zee TV.

Zee TV, a major TV channel in India has signed a 51:49 percent deal with the Alemao family. This is for the first time that a football club in Goa, has successfully engaged a major partner and the team is now known as Zee-Churchill Sports Club.

Grigory Zetcin, from Uzbekistan will be guiding the Zee­Churchill team into the new millennium, as Danny McLennan, has returned to Scotland, as he is believed not to be keeping good health.

Armando Colaco is back with his old team, Dempo Sports Club as their chief coach.

The entry of Zee TV with Churchill Bros is a very good omen, because Goan football will also benefit from TV coverage.