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For him, the game of football spanned two continents and two countries. He played on two soils – that of Tanzania and that of India. Domnic Soares was a name well-known in the world of football, in part for being the ‘D’ of the deadly forward-line quartet ABCD of the Vasco Sports Club in the 60s and 70s.

Having completed his schooling in Tanzania, Domnic played for the Goan Sports Club and Wanderers Football Club, Dar-es-Salaam and the Cosmopolitan Football Club, Tanzania before returning to India and being recognised for his football skills. “I was always into football. When I was a small boy of 9 years, I was part of the altar servers team. I remember we had got a green and red ball and played with it after we learnt our doctrine. We did not require a playground; we played in fields even if they were ploughed. Playing football was an incentive to learn the doctrine,” Domnic says with a twinkle in his eye.

He played for his school team in Dar-es-Salaam and he says he played cricket as well even if he didn’t want to play the game. “They had a condition – if you wanted to play football, you had to play cricket too.” He went on to play for third division and then first division. “They had Arabs and Africans in their team; I was the only Asian.”

Even all those years back he was good, and though the youngster might not have had perfect control over the ball, he was quick – an ability that later contributed to earning him the title of ace dribbler, perhaps even being the best in India. He came back from Tanzania one December, on the feast of St Francis Xavier. When he went for a Liberation Day dance on December 19, he met a group of young footballers. “My neighbour from Dar-es-Salaam was also there and he told them I was a football player,” he says. The next day, even before he got out of bed, some officials from the Academica Football Club were knocking at his door (he didn’t even know about the football club then), and he signed their forms and went on to play for them for five years.

The Salgaocars were at Domnic’s heels to join their team, but he played for the Vasco Sports Club and stayed with them for 12 years. There he met the other three of the star quartet. “We did not realise that the first alphabets of our names formed the first four letters of the alphabet, until a reporter wrote about it. And then the whole country knew us as ABCD,” he says. Domnic was famous for his zero-angle goals, dribbling and scoring penalties. “My team mates wondered at my ability to score the zero-angle goals. Once a team member came and caught my shirt after the game, because he depended on my passes for his score,” he says, shaking his head. In 1968, Domnic played against the visiting Hungarian team Vasa Izo Club which played a series of exhibition matches in India and suffered its lone defeat in Goa.

After retiring in 1980, Domnic managed and coached the Vasco team, and later he coached the girls football team of St Theresa’s High School in Candolim, which won the inter school girls under 17 football title under his training.

“In my time there were some nice dribblers. Now the game is based on tactic, stamina and team work. In our days we learnt the game by watching films of the English premier league. When the Finals took place in England, it took two days for the film to reach Tanzania. I used to watch it on the projector in the school next to my house,” he reminisces

The Goan – Source

I was ready to go home, and I thought that surely Dad wouldn’t spend too much time with him. But I was wrong. Dad greeted him at the door with a big hug and talked with him about his wife and son who had been in a car accident the month before. He empathized, he asked questions, he listened, and he listened some more. I kept looking at the clock, and when the man finally left, I asked, “Dad, why did you spend so much time with him? He’s just the garbage collector.” Dad then looked at me, locked the front door to the store, and said, “Son, let’s talk.”

He said, “I’m your father and I tell you lots of stuff as all fathers should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this…treat every human being just the way that you would want to be treated.” He said, “I know this is not the first time you’ve heard it, but I want to make sure it’s the first time you truly understand it, because if you had understood, you would never have said what you said.” We sat there and talked for another hour about the meaning and the power of the Golden Rule. Dad said, “If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don’t, your life probably will be very unhappy and without meaning.”

I recently heard someone say, “If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of incalculable value.” Truer words were never spoken.

What you just read is one of 28 short chapters in The Power of Attitude. It was titled: “Rule #1…It’s Golden.

Gulf based Goans are evincing a renewed interest in the possibility of obtaining a Portuguese passport, over half a century after the European colonial power sailed out of Mormugao port in the only war where one shot was fired. Legend has it that even that artillery shell tanked.  Anyway, the new craze was sparked in the Salcette Taluka of Goa where as many as 200 applicants line up every day in the hope that their lottery comes through. The word has spread and many an NRI from there is thinking of this option.

Gulf NRIs do not see it as an anti-Indian move. “It is only a convenience,” says Robbie D’Souza, who deals in property, “With the tough climb to get visas to the west, such a passport would come real in handy. It facilitates movement and if the papers work for you, why not.” Benny Furtado who comes from Salcette says there is no stigma attached to the effort and if people can go to Canada or Australia and that be seen as a strategic move how is this treacherous? It is the same thing. I have applied and if I get it, I will take it.”  The underlying stress and the accusatory tone comes from the fact  that Catholic Goans by virtue of their baptism papers and their birth certificates being authenticated by the church are in a better position than non-Catholics who often do not even have recorded evidence. Thus the need for a teor (the birth certificate of a person born during Portugese rule or a copy of the marriage certificate) which is mandated becomes almost impossible. Consequently, if your grandparents were born before 1961 you can be eligible (see attached list) but you can grow old trying to prove it.  However, it is bit of a muchness because the records in modern Goa are tattered, torn and out of sync. Several years are missing. They have not been maintained with any registrar. As such only the Christians have a slim chance by using baptism and marriage certificates of mostly their grandparents.

Well into the third generation from when the Portuguese ruled the territory, Goans are hard placed to exercise what some of them feel is a right to Portuguese nationality. They know their grandparents were born and bred in Goa pre-1961 but how do you prove it? Every week as many as a thousand reportedly trek to their priest in the hope of locating Grandpa and Grandma’s certificates.  The applicants who apply for copies of marriage certificates and teors issued during this particular period are directly told to call it quits and back off.  And this is only the first step because financially bruised Lisbon is no longer falling over backwards to take in newcomers from erstwhile colonies like Brazil and now Chinese Macau. With each passing day the hope fades. Like boxer Mohammed Ali said about George Foreman’s chances; slim to none.

Reaching new heights
24/Sep/2013
Susanne Reilly, Southern Gazette

Comments:
Sanjay Gonsalves will trek to the base of Mt Everest. Sanjay Gonsalves will trek to the base of Mt Everest.
AS a child, Karawara’s Sanjay Gonsalves dreamt of climbing Mt Everest.

But as the years rolled on, he lowered his sights to just catching a glimpse of Everest from Kala Patthar, near the Everest Base Camp, something he will complete next month.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty high, and will surely be a challenge with the cold, the altitude and the air being half of what I’m used to in sunny Perth,” he said.

But it isn’t just a childhood dream Mr Gonsalves will be achieving, he will also be raising funds for the Leukaemia Foundation in honour of his late mother.

The 46-year-old has set his fundraising target at $5000 as a way of giving back the cost of support that was given by the Leukaemia Foundation to his mother during her battle with platelets disorder.

“A couple of years back, my mum lost her battle with cancer, which she fought with dignity all the way to the end,” he said.

He added it was tough seeing her struggling for breath for the last few years of her life.

“This is just one of the struggles that mum, as a cancer patient, had to endure and mum endured her challenge without whingeing and was a real battler,” he said. “So when I am trekking and feel short of breath, it will remind me of her and her grace in accepting her cross.”

He said that his mum used the Leukaemia Foundation’s transport services extensively for hospital visits and appointments.

“I though this trip would be a great way of raising awareness of the wonderful services the Leukaemia Foundation provides and raise some money to assist them provide this support to other families who need it.”

He will be completing the trek in October. Donations can be made contacting the Leukaemia Foundation on 1800 620 420 or by visiting lfwafundraising.org.au/sanjay_gonsalves.