GFDC closes the two day football summit with a promise of being “just the beginning”

G.I.F.T. culminates with felicitation of 1978 heroes

16^th March, 2013, Panaji: Day two of India’s first ever football summit – the Goa International Football Table, was an action-packed day full of insightful presentations and seminars focusing on various aspects of Indian Football. Eminent speakers from the Indian and worldwide football fraternity shared their views and discussed solutions to make football a more recognized sport in our country. Listed below is a brief summary of every session conducted at today’s summit:

Efficient use of stadium infrastructure

The day began with an astute presentation by Paul Fletcher, CEO, of Burnley Football Club, on the ‘Efficient use of stadium infrastructure’. Mr Fletcher not only gave an insight and thoughtful understanding about the infrastructure for football stadiums in England, but also highlighted the importance of how India needs to investigate and learn from their mistakes to help develop good and effective stadium infrastructure in India.

According to Fletcher, who played for Burnley , Bolton Wanderers & Blackpool ,the Three Buzz Words required for proper infrastructure was: Legacy, Community and Revenue. “While building infrastructure, do not forget to build the people,” he said.  

Talent Development: Goa, the catalyst & gateway to Indian football success

Coach education head - Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Mohamed Basir, in his presentation briefed the audience on the concept of Talent Development and its importance in football.

Stressing on aspects such as Nature or Nurture, Chance or Design and Quantity or Quality, he spoke about how Goa could be a model state in the field of football. In conclusion, he appealed to football lovers present to remain unified, as in the long run it is this unity which is crucial for the upliftment of Indian football.

Henry Menezes, CEO of Western India Football Association (WIFA), in his address focused on building players and creating pathways for them. He said, “We have to understand whether we need to “build” players or “buy” players.”

Secretary of Salgaocar FC, Raj Gomes, one of the panelists for the session, gave a brief understanding of talent development strategies of his team; while Kenny Moyes, Managing Director - Libero Professional Pre-Season Tours Ltd spoke about the participation and consistency of the players towards the sport.

Mariano Baretto, of Goan origin & a Union of European football Associations (UEFA) Pro license coach, believes that different opportunities help in shaping young football players’ careers. “Our world has produced many fantastic players such as Roonie, Messi and Ronaldo who have contributed towards the sports success and recognition worldwide” said Mariano.

Community Development: Sports (Football) – The simple upliftment of society

Kushal Das, General Secretary, All India Football Federation spoke about FIFA Football for Hope, its principle being, “Keeping Communities Connected.”

He also mentioned about the success of the Goalz Project in Kolkata launched in 2012 as it engaged not only the community but also the police force.

“Sports, especially football is inspirational and has a global reach. It also teaches us the values of life,” Das said.

PK Mukherjee, MD, Vedanta SESA FA spoke about football being a community game and stated that Goa Football Development Council (GFDC) could have been Indian Football Development Council (IFDC).

“Football is a performing art and can be developed only with passion,” says Mukherjee.

According to Sports commentator and writer Novi Kapadia, “Football is Goa’s identity.” He believes that although Indian football has not been very successful, it does have a long history.

Ajay Shetty, Head training and accreditation, Magic Bus along with Peter Vaz, President, Sporting Clube de Goa had a similar viewpoint on how AIFF needed to show more support towards the development of football. Ajay Shetty further went on to give a brief insight on the working of Magic Bus.

Peter Vaz also added that there were lack of stadiums, which according to him should be small with good road connectivity, and that government associations should be revived towards the upliftment of the sport.

Marketing & Sponsorship: When Football meets Moneyball

The Goa International Football Table had a panel discussion on the topic ‘Marketing and Sponsorship’ in football at the Goa Marriott Resort. Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan, Sports Editor and Senior presenter of Neo Sports Broadcast Ltd while moderating the session gave a distinguishing aspect between cricket and football.

Keynote speaker for the session, Hass Aminian, Director of New Business Development, Sportfive International (Asia), in his presentation ‘When football meets Moneyball’ proposed some of the marketing strategies that could enhance the football market. Mr. Aminian, in his presentation gave examples of the English and Spanish model.

Aminian also pointed some of the drawbacks in Indian Football. He said that Indians lack participation in any major sports, secondly that dominance in India is linked to national team performance and not at local level and thirdly that India lacks infrastructure to host major events.

“Stop taking steps, look for an elevator,” stated, Chairman and Co-founder of Taproot, Agnello Dias. According to him, the Goa Federation should promote football among people who are interested in the sport rather than the ones already playing.

CEO, Churchill Bros SC, Valanka Alemao pointed out that although Bollywood and Cricket has a national front, football still continues to be popular even among the Indians. She put forward her opinion about how we needed to package Indian football again to make it more attractive. “Football is the most expensive and attractive ball,” she added.

 CEO, Sportskeeda, Porush Jain states, “Indian economy is continuously growing, for the betterment of Indian football, the exploitation of the Indian market is necessary.”

Rajesh Kharabanda, CEO, Nivia-Freewill Sports Pvt. Ltd. adding to the discussion suggested that in order to increase revenue, the clubs needed to increase their fan base.

The Professionals: Upgrading our Competition to Export Stars

The G.I.F.T.’s final session on ‘The Professional’ began with a presentation by the keynote speaker, R. Sasikumar, Ex captain of the Singapore football team, and MD of Red Card Group. Sasikumar in his presentation on ‘Upgrading our competition to export stars’ gave an example of Japan’s rise on the football ground mentioning their 100 years plan 2012.

He also introduced the heroes that changed the face of Spanish and Japanese football. He focused on the need for more I-Leagues that would lead to the success of national teams. He felt that India needed to invest and commit more economy in a footballer by the parents, clubs, agents and federations. To conclude his presentation he stated, “India needs more players.”

The Indian Football Team Coach, Wim Koevermans appealed to the audience to take inspiration from the Nike logo “Just do it”. “You build the best, bring the best and play against the best” said Wim in context to building professionals.

Sreenivas Dempo, Vice President - AIFF and President - GFA, while talking about building professional players, pointed out that in the past 10 years, India has witnessed change but there is still a need for rapid change.

Joshua Lewis, CEO of Kenkre Football Academy, focused on grassrooot level planning and development of player professionalism.

The Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony of the Goa International Football Table was held on Saturday, 16th March, 2013 at the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa. The present dignitaries were Dr. Rufino Monteiro, chairman of GFDC and the chief guest, Francis D’souza, deputy CM of Goa.

The closing ceremony began with the sum-up of the two day summit by Udit Sheth – MD & CEO TransStadia , the knowledge partners of GFDC . Followed by the concluding address by Dr. Monteiro in which he thanked all the speakers and delegates and all the exemplary players whilst promising to make the summit an annual event and show-case the progress in the GFDC endeavour taking valuable inputs from the seminar. He acknowledged the participation of the Bollywood star, Suniel Shetty and current Indian Football Team skipper, Sunil Chhetri during the parade held earlier in the day.

The ceremony followed with a speech by the chief guest, wherein he commented on the efforts put in by the GFDC towards popularizing football. “Rufino Monteiro is on a very serious mission and will take the right step in the right direction to achieve success”

The 1978 National Gold Medalist Team was then felicitated --- the Manager…John Viegas, Baptist Fernandes, Peter Miranda, Ignacious Dias, Sarto Baptista, Agnelo Fonseca, Joseph Cardozo, Tadeo Barretto, William Machado, Caitano D’Souza, Caitano D’Souza and the captain, Edmund Mascarenhas who was over-whelmed that their heroics in the freezing cold of Srinagar were finally recognised by the government through GFDC .

The function concluded with the vote of thanks by Mr. Kennedy D’Silva – Executive Secretary, Goa Football Development Council.