PALAKKAD: After two years of simmering controversy the age-restricted Santosh Trophy Football Championship has come to a happy ending. The visitors from Maharashtra took the trophy back after a lapse of nearly three decades leaving Kerala to remain runners-up for the fourth year in a row.
The present officials of the Kerala Football Association hoped to step down in August after achieving a “double but this proved only a dream as Kerala bowed down in the final yesterday to Maharashira losing by a solitary goal. The state had won the Federation Cup for club sides through Kerala Police early this year.
One thing which is worrying the top brasses of Kerala soccer is that many of those who helped the state to this level in the last couple of years will not be assisting them in the coming season having signed for popular Calcutta clubs. Among those likely to leave the state are Sharaf Ali Pappachan and Vijayan. The state association could do little to prevent this as“they are leaving to find greener pastures” larnented one official
The championship however proved one thing that the art of scoring has not totally been lost in Indian football. Compared to the “goal drought” witnessed at Kannur during the Federation Cup where eight of the country’s best club sides were on view this championship produced a total of S9 goals from 23 matches with only three ending undecided. :
There was just one hat trick by Bruno Coutinho in the Group “A” league against Assam while two Asheem of Kerala and Godfrey Pereira of Maharashtra missed the privilege narrowly. Three penalties were awarded and all of them were converted one each by Jujhar Singhof Punjab Mario Soares of Goa and Vijayan of Kerala.
The referees had a tough job and there were 35 yellow cards and three red cards to Bhim Sen of Uttar Pradesh against Kerala international Kuljit Singh of Bengal also against Kerala and Punjab’s Balwinder Singh against Goa. While the Bengal striker was banned from playing in two matches for abusing the referee the other two were stood down for a day which did not affect their teams as the incidents came in their last matches.
Some of the matches did give the impression that the teams were deliberately not doing their best rousing suspicions among the knowledgeable Palakkad fans that showed their displeasure by booing the erring teams.
One could lose count of the dreary and drab encounters and certainly none can carry home remembrance of any outstanding match during the entire tournament. However one player Maharashtra’s goalkeeper Mohammed Quadeer could be termed the “find of the tournament”.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 29, 1991
