Football

Goan football was introduced in the relatively recent past. And even then, its introduction was so innocuous that most of us Goans haven't the slightest idea of how and when it happened. Practically everyone we meet assumes that it came about by the natural osmosis of culture that was bound to permeate our lifestyles during 500 years of Portuguese presence in Goa. Others simply believe that since every Goan child can kick, Goan would take to football like fish to water. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Football was brought to Goa in 1883 by Reverent Fr. William Robert Lyons, who came to Siolim, in Bardez Taluka, from Udipi, in the neighboring state of Karnataka to recover from health problems. He liked Goa so much that instead of returning, he founded a School at Siolim and introduced the sport there. He was also responsible for putting sports into the curriculum.

The first reference to a football match played in Goa is in 1900 at Panjim at the Largo do Conceica and witnessed by the then Governor General of Goa. From 1901 to 1910 football was regularly played at Panjim, Taleigao, Saligao, Assagao, Candolim, Calangute, Mapusa, Assolna, Margao, Vasco da Gama and Colva. Probably the first club in Goa was formed in the coastal village of Colva in Salcete named as the Boys Social Club in 1905 under the direction of XN Dainaito to play football among other Sports.