Revision as of 19:32, 28 January 2022

The colonial era

Football: 1883-1951

Marcus Mergulhao, Dec 19, 2021: The Times of India

PANAJI: In 2012, when then chief minister Manohar Parrikar declared football as the state sport, a first for any state in India, everyone applauded the decision. But in reality, it really shouldn’t have taken so long for the government to realise the influence of football on Goans.

Football, after all, has been more than just a sport ever since Fr William Robert Lyons, a visiting British priest, first brought the game to Goa in 1883.

Throughout the twentieth century, football remained an important part of expatriate relations with Goa as the best teams from Bombay, now Mumbai, were touring the state, then under Portuguese rule.

St Mary’s College landed here as early as 1905 to play friendlies against Panjim Boys, while by the 1940s, prominent teams like Young Goans and BEST were also making their presence felt.

The Portuguese knew what football meant to Goans, so during the crucial decade prior to Liberation when pressure was building on the colonial powers to relinquish hold over foreign lands, the Salazar regime did everything it could to convince Goa they were in good hands.

Football was their biggest tool.

“The Portuguese made some last-ditch attempts to create in Goans an awareness of the benefits of European rule and of their ties to the Iberian state. Football proved to be an important means of attempting to promote this cultural association and of highlighting the effectiveness of Portuguese administration,” James Mills notes in, ‘Colonialism, Christians and Sport: The Catholic Church and Football in Goa, 1883-1951’.

Starting from 1955, tours of major teams from around the Portuguese empire were arranged, with Ferroviario de Lourenco Marques being the first to play here. The Mozambique-based club attracted a crowd of 20,000 for each of its two matches.

Four years later, Pakistan’s leading football team, Port Trust Club of Karachi, landed here, “symbolising the solidarity of two anti-India footballing nations”. But the most famous of them all was, no doubt, the visit of European giants SL Benfica in 1960.

“Benfica's tour of Portuguese Goa in 1960 was seemingly intended to remind indigenous subjects of their imperial connections and responsibilities,” Todd Cleveland wrote in, ‘Following the Ball: The Migration of African Soccer Players Across the Portuguese Colonial Empire’.

Significantly, governor-general Vassalo e Silva was present for two of the three games that Benfica played in Goa.

Football was also provided pride of place as the sport was separated from others, governed by the Conselho de Desportos da India Portuguesa which, as its name suggests, was a general sports council.

Instead, the Associacao Futebol de Goa (now Goa Football Association) was formed on December 22, 1959.

Freedom struggle

1583: Cuncolim Revolt

Govind Maad, Dec 20, 2021: The Times of India

Cuncolim observed the 438th anniversary of the Cuncolim Revolt of 1583 earlier this year. Centuries later, the seminal historical event may finally find its way into the academic curriculum of high schools, as has been announced by CM Pramod Sawant.

It was five villages from South Goa — Cuncolim, Ambelim, Assolna, Veroda and Velim — that waged a war against the Portuguese colonists, resulting in bloodshed and non-payment of taxes in protest — hundreds of years before Gandhi was to lead satyagraha for non-payment of salt tax to the British.

“At Bardez in North Goa, about 300 Hindu temples were razed to the ground. In 1583, the Portuguese army destroyed several Hindu temples at Assolna and Cuncolim,” a historical account states. On July 25, 1583, five Jesuits accompanied by one European and 14 native converts went to Cuncolim to erect a cross and select ground for building a church. Hordes of villagers, armed with swords, daggers, spears and sticks, brutally killed the invading party.

1787-1955: Monuments

Dec 20, 2021: The Times of India

SENSE OF HISTORY

Many laid down lives in Goa’s quest for freedom. These memorials serve as a reminder

AGUADA JAIL

At the height of Goa’s independence struggle, freedom fighters were imprisoned at the 17th century Aguada fort, constructed by the Portuguese to guard against the Dutch and the Marathas

PATRADEVI MEMORIAL

As a peaceful protest, several youngsters entered the ‘Portuguese territory’ at Patradevi but the colonial police opened fire and at least 30 satyagrahis lost their lives on Aug 15, 1955

PINTO’S REVOLT MEMORIAL

Fr Caetano Vitorino de Faria, father of Abbé Faria, masterminded the Pinto Revolt or Pinto Conspiracy against Portuguese rule in Goa in 1787. The Memorial is in the heart of Goa’s capital city LOHIA

MAIDAN

The site where Dr Ram Manohar Lohia broke the Portuguese ban on public meetings on June 18, 1946 in Margao is today the Lohia Maidan

Rock eras

Gauree.Malkarnekar, Goa’s 16 rock eras tell Earth’s story, May 22, 2017: The Times of India

Old rocks in Goa; Gauree.Malkarnekar, Goa’s 16 rock eras tell Earth’s story, May 22, 2017: The Times of India

Goa may be embedded with India’s oldest rocks, trondhjemite gneiss, but the tiny state is also one of the most geologically diverse regions. If you traverse Goa’s 3,702-square-kilometre expanse, you will be walking across as many as 16 geological eras say geologists.

Trondhjemite gneiss formations found at Anmod Ghat have been recorded to be over 3.4 billion years old, followed by the gneiss formation at Palolem in Canacona. Meanwhile, the rock formations on the north Goa beach belt date back 2.5 billion years. Compare this to the fact that modern mammals as wells as hominoids appeared on Earth only 65 million years ago.

Scientist Nandkumar Kamat says we need to create thematic ancient pre-cambrian geological parks to spread knowledge about the existence of this natural heritage, not just at Anmod Ghat and Palolem, but also at “Dudhsagar/Colem/Castelrock and Chandranath/ Paroda”, where important rock formations have been identified

The age of the granites found at Dudhsagar and Chandranath are believed to be 2.6 billion years old.

The gneiss and schists have folded several times and their merging with other newer rocks has led to different formations.“These trondhjemite gneiss rocks have undergone a change from ingenious rocks to metamorphic rocks over a long period of time due to heat and pressure. At many places, granite rocks have turned into gneiss because of metamorphism,” says geographer F M Nadaf.