Greetings,

Dear Pillars, Donors, Life members, Benefactors, Villagers and Well Wishers, I am privileged to lead the club after being elected unopposed as the president for the 2017-2019 term. “Guirdolim Club” is the only club of our village and was formed because of the initiative of our forefathers, initially christened as “Guirdolim Youth Association” in 1962 and later re-named as “Guirdolim Club” in 1975. The club benefits the village and villagers by providing opportunities through various activities and it should be our duty to preserve it for posterity. After having struggled initially due to lack of its own premise to moving to a rented premise, a spacious Club Hall was inaugurated in the year 1990 by none other than Shri Luis Proto Barboza, the then Chief Minister of Goa. In those days our club hall was one of the best in the entire of Goa. Special mention goes to two prominent gentlemen who are our Patrons, Late Shri Bill Cardozo (who donated his prime land on which the hall is built along with cash of Rs 40000/-) and Late Shri Joseph Mascarenhas (Instrumental in getting grants of Rs 300000/- from the government and also donations from all over Goa), off course not forgetting the battery of dedicated volunteers who selflessly invested their time and effort to make the construction of the hall successful.

A lot has been achieved by our club over the years in the field of sports but sadly the graph has gone down in recent years. From being a club which once plied their trade in the First division league (then the premiere football league in Goa) to being a club which did not participate in any footballing activities in the year 2014-15 clearly shows our downfall. In 2016 we started re-building our football team by including a mix of youth and experienced players. It gives me immense pleasure to inform you all that our team played in the 3rd division league in 2017 and topped our group thus qualifying for the play-offs. Due to the delay by GFA in completing the playoffs and 3 crucial players leaving for greener pastures in the interim, we failed to make it to the 2nd division this year. Currently we are playing in different inter-village tournaments all over Goa.

The club has been organising the “All Goa Guirdolim Panchayat Cup” a football tournament which brings together 16 teams from across the state fighting for glory. This year we successfully brought to an end the 14th edition which was won by Fr. Agnelo Youth Sports Club, Paroda by defeating St. Anthony Sports Club, Assolda in an exciting finals via penalties.

As most of you know the club hall houses 2 Badminton courts and I am happy to inform you that this year we revived our traditional indoor Badminton tournament in September 2017 where competitions for school boys, senior men and senior men doubles were held. Just before the Badminton tournament we upgraded the lighting of the hall to LED lights which were sponsored by a few Executive Committee members and players who use the badminton court. The tournament was possible due to the generous contributions from many well-wishers. We managed to make a small profit from the Badminton tournament and this money will very soon be used for upgrading the lighting facility in the club from single phase to 3 phase.

In October 2017 we held the 2nd Interschool Elocution, Drawing and Fancy Dress Competition for which we had a tie up with Canara Bank and HDFC Bank along with a couple of individual sponsors. In the Club Hall on every Monday and Thursday boys and girls are taught Martial Arts between 7pm to 8:30pm. From October 2017 on Tuesdays and Saturdays between 6pm to 7:30pm, young girls and women groove to the Zumba tunes to maintain fitness levels. Plans are being drawn to start Ballroom dancing too. The Gymnasium of the club which is located in the club house is being used by the youth and old alike to tone up their muscles. In the academic year 2016-17 about 62 students were given an opportunity to study music for almost free. We also have one Table Tennis table around which there is a youthful buzz every evening. Also, two Carom Boards and available where games are played in the evening by a mix of young and old. The men in the evening play card games for fun. All these activities are provided to our villagers free of cost and even non-members are welcomed with open arms.

Guirdolim Club is the only club in Goa that organises a cycle race and it is held on the 1st of January every year, this year the 45th edition was completed; plans are being drawn to conduct the 46th All Goa Cycle race on the 1st of January 2018. This event too is solely dependent on individual sponsors and efforts are being made to associate with interested individuals and institutions for funds.

We have been renting out the club hall for functions for a fee along with 225 chairs and 25 tables which were procured recently. A club boy has been appointed to maintain, open and close the club premises from 5:30pm to 9:00pm. Minimal rent is generated from the Martial Arts classes, Zumba classes and lease of club hall for functions; the club has no other mode of generating revenue by itself and is dependent solely on generous donations from villagers, institutions and politicians to run the daily affairs of the club, field its football team and to organise events.

​

The club organises a kermes(fun stall) on the occasion of the village feast on the 6th of January and this is a big hit among the locals. Revenue generated from the Kermes and the football tournament just about helps us in sustaining our club throughout the year.

With escalating costs the cost of organizing events and also the cost of maintenance goes up every year. It therefore becomes imperative to put the club hall to active use so as to generate revenue to enable us to sustain our activities. The club hall in the past was used for wedding receptions, for staging dramas and other functions which have completely stopped or drastically declined over the years. One of the main reasons for these events not taking place in our hall is the bad acoustics of our hall. Paucity of funds has been one of the main reasons why no efforts have been made to rectify this defect. In the years 2013-2015 the club remained locked and suffered a lot on the infrastructure and the sports side.

The asbestos roofing of the club hall has stood up to the elements for almost 30 years having cracked up at places and also become so brittle that workers are not prepared to risk their lives to repair or replace the damaged sheets. At other places the hooks holding the sheets in place have rusted and a couple of sheets at the entrance have blown away during the monsoon winds. During heavy rains small pools of water are formed at many places inside the hall thus bringing to a complete halt the sporting activities. Also asbestos is proved to have carcinogenic properties and therefore not healthy. The services of an Engineer was sought to help us understand what needs to be done to rectify the problems. Based on the Engineers reports it was recommended to change the roofing, improve the ventilation and to install a false ceiling without disturbing the Badminton activities. An estimate for the same is being currently drawn and if budget permits the work is intended to be taken up on priority basis.

The stage of our hall is quite a big one but has no green rooms on the sides although space to build the same is available on the sides. Above the planned green rooms on either side there are enclosed spaces which on one side can hold a office which can be used for administrative work of the club and a library along with display for trophies on the other side. To access these two rooms a spiral staircase would be ideal with a platform connecting the rooms from the backside of the stage. The galleries of the club hall are partly incomplete and need to be completed. The Club House which is attached to the club hall has a flat roof and as a result during the monsoons there is a lot of leakage which in turn damages the gymnasium equipment. This roof needs to be covered as soon as possible and this will also provide us with additional space where activities exclusive for ladies can be organised. The open space available by the side of the club hall has to be covered with pavers. Help is being sought from local and state government agencies to garner funds and get some of these works sanctioned so as to lessen the burden on us in terms of finances.

Even if the Government sanctions some of the works a lot of work will have to be managed with the club funds which at the moment are not sufficient to even get the proposed work started. It is therefore a big responsibility on the executive committee along with the villagers to work towards accumulating funds to get the above mentioned works completed. Slowly but surely we intend to bring our club back to its past glory in terms of infrastructure and sporting activities and make it self-sustained.

To keep up with the changing technology, to keep many of you who are away from the village informed about our club activities and to document the club history, the executive committee decided to launch a website for our club. Shri Joviton D’costa was instrumental in designing the website and on 12th of November 2017 our Chief Guest Shri Clafasio Dias, (Hon. MLA of Cuncolim Constituency) in the presence of other guests and executive committee members, during the finals of our football tournament launched the club website www.guirdolimclub.com. We have also made it an interactive website and your valuable suggestions and views are solicited by us. I humbly appeal to you all to make constructive use of this platform so that more good comes out of it.

On behalf of my Executive Committee I wish to thank all our sponsors and well-wishers for their help and support provided so far and request you all to help us in our efforts to bring glory to the club. With your help and generosity we shall achieve much more and we look forward to it.

With Sporting Salutations,

Patwin Fizardo,

President, Guirdolim Club.