Goa roots for Portugal to lift Euro 2004 Cup

When Portugal take on Greece in the final on Sunday, residents of Goa will root for their victory.

When Portugal takes on Greece in the Euro Cup final in Lisbon on Sunday, the players would perhaps be unaware that residents of one of their former colonies in distant India are rooting for their victory.

HT Image

"I'll be watching the final along with my brothers on Sunday, with a Portugese flag beside the TV," said Brahmanand S. Shankwalkar, 50, India's former goalkeeper.

"I think 80 per cent of Goa's football fans support Portugal," said Shankwalkar, who has also captained the Goan team.

Football enthusiast Noel Lima Leitao, a businessman, added: "One hundred percent of Goa's residents support Portugal. There's no empathy here for Greece.

"Goa's football got its boost through the Portuguese in pre-liberation (prior to 1961) times," says Leitao, who heads the Vasco Sports Club.

Goa, among the longest-ruled European colony, is now a popular tourist destination.

An Indian Army thrust uprooted Portuguese authorities in 1961. Since then, relations between Lisbon and Panaji (formerly Panjim) have for quite some time been one of love-and-hate, with a lot of suspicion. But now things are different.

Clubs that cater to the older generation of Goans, nostalgic about the good things they witnessed during Portuguese rule, have teamed with soccer fans caught up in the fervour of supporting Portugal.

"Nobody's willing to talk against Portugal now (in sports)," sports journalist Anthony Marcus Mergulhao said. "After all, the Portuguese were the ones who virtually started football here and also the Goa Football Association."

Goa was a Portuguese colony between 1510 and 1961, and football is believed to have been introduced here by William Robert Lyons, a north European priest, who came here to recover from illness.

In 1893 — the year football was declared the national sport in Portugal -- it was brought to south Goa. Seminarians and other priests have been credited with being among the promoters of the game.

Simon Gomes, a partner in Panaji's busy sports outlet called 'Champs', said he has already sold some 250 Portuguese jerseys — all imported and priced at Rs.150 to 350 each.

Portugal-born Nalini Sousa, who runs the 'A Nau' outlet of Portuguese food, wine and crockery that casts nostalgia, especially on old-timers and tourists looking for an unusual buy, says key chains, stickers, mugs and pins related to the Euro Cup were selling well.

"It (sporting enthusiasm) seems like a good opportunity and a business we could go into," she said.

Around the coast, the heart of the tourist belt outside the June-September monsoon, various clubs and restaurants have put up big screens to display the finals for their customers.

Reports say giant screens have been put up at Mickky's in Colva, Martins in Betalbatim — both popular beach destinations in south Goa — and at the heart of Portuguese nostalgia, the Clube Vasco da Gama in Panjim. Others tapping the soccer fever include Ozone Club at the luxury Marriott's Hotel.

Even Town and Country Planning Minister Atanasio "Babush" Monserrate and recently ousted sports minister Francisco "Mickky" Pacheco told journalists they would support Portugal.

A local distillery has come out with a football-shaped 60 mm bottle of the local liquor brew 'feni' made from the cashew apple.

If some still feel bitter about colonial rule, all is fair in love, war and football. Or so it seems.

Silicon Valley-based engineer Marlon Menezes argued: "Goa's unique selling point to the rest of India and the world is its Portuguese heritage, no matter how superficial, weak or phoney it is at the moment. These remnants of history need to be preserved for Goa's commercial interests."

He said this while taking part in an Internet debate on an issue that never fails to draw passion -- does Goa love or hate its colonial cousins?

But Sunday, Goans would definitely cheer Portugal.