Goa’s historic triumph in the Women’s National Football Championship in 1977 was relived on the same day 40 years later as the Association for the Wellbeing of Elder Sportspersons (AWES) and Agassaim Youth Club felicitated the heroes at the St Lawrence Church hall, Agassaim, on Monday.

Nineteen players came together on Monday, some of them meeting each other after ages, and talked for hours about Goa’s historic victory over Bengal at the Gymkhana ground 3-0. It was Goa’s first National triumph and laid the foundation for Goa to dominate Indian football for many years to come.

On Monday, successive speakers praised the women’s team for their efforts 40 years ago and leading the praise was town and country planning minister Vijai Sardesai who was the chief guest for the evening.

“It is our duty to celebrate such triumphs. Such triumphs are rare and for me these players are our real heroes,” said Sardesai. Vice-captain of the historic women’s team, Soccorinha Pereira, said it was “awesome” to meet the team after four decades.

“We worked hard for our triumph. We played our hearts out. On this special day, we do miss our coach (Joao de Mello) and captain Rekha (Karapurkar) who are no more with us. We must thank AWES for remembering us. This is such an awesome feeling,” said Soccorinha.

Indeed, Joao de Mello and Rekha were missed the most. Late Rekha was represented by her son Gautam, while Joao’s widow Fatima was present to collect the memento on her late husband’s behalf.

Present in person were 19 players who were part of the historic 23-member squad. These players included Rajani Simepurushkar, who travelled from Bahrain specifically for the felicitation function. Others present included Soccorinha Pereira, Yolanda de Sousa, Juliana Gurjao, Esperanca Almeida, Perpetua Fernandes (Sr), Arabela Coutinho, Sylvia D’Souza, Filomena Fernandes, Anita Fernandes, Petolina Pereira, Emma Fernandes, Ritinha Pereira, Susan D’Souza, Fatima Rodrigues, Perpetua Fernandes (Jr), Filomena D’Souza, Agnes Gomes and Elma D’Cunha.

The only players missing were Helen Fernandes, Clementina Fernandes and Caetana Barbosa, all of whom are currently abroad.

TCP minister Vijai Sardesai was the chief guest while others present on the dais were former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane, Agassaim MLA Francis Silveira, Goa Football Association president Elvis Gomes, former president of the Goa Women’s Football Association Vijayadevi Rane, Agassaim sarpanch Xavier Gracias and parish priest Fr Mario Leitao.

AWES president Avertano Furtado welcomed while Agasssaim Youth Club secretary and AWES treasurer Armando Colaco proposed the vote of thanks.

(AWES)