MARGAO: There are many who have shown outstanding dedication and commitment in to the growth of football. Tito Cardozo is one such individual who had contributed silently for the upliftment and expansion of football in the suburbs of Margao.
His father Luis Alex (mama) Cardozo established the Margao Sports Club in the early nineties with the sole aim of providing opportunities to the talented footballers who lacked the finance.
His son Tito fulfilled one of the utmost ambitions of the club members who aspired that their team becomes the first club from Fatorda to gain promotion to the GFA first division league.
Before the qualification to the top division of football, the Margao Sports Club was almost a non-entity with teams relishing the opportunity of playing the small clubs in the inter-village tournaments. Its promotion came as a stunning surprise to many football enthusiasts.
The newly promoted team proved that their elevation was purely on merits after remaining unbeaten in the final qualifying round and play-offs. Like any other small club in Margao, this club also had limited financial resources and it was Tito, a civil engineer and contractor by profession who provided the solidity in the club to keep it going and rightly deserves the accolades. Tito praises the efforts of the general secretary, Mr Alex Noronha and executive committee members-Mr Milagres Noronha and Mr Soccoro Baretto for the achievement. He mentions, “It was our plan long time back, to see the club in the first division. We worked towards it quietly. It took some time but we never gave up and finally we achieved our aim,” briefed Tito singling out coach Joaquim Crasto for his sincere work in helping the club attain this promotion.
The rise encouraged the tiny club of dreaming big as they feel that their team was good enough to enter the pro-league the next season and the management had already assembled the budget marked for the team this year. He informs, “This promotion brought in an energetic and gripping feeling. We have our limitations but the thrill was there and everyone was so engrossed that it was just a matter of time that resources were obtained. It was a collective effort. All of us worked towards it and we are enthusiastic that we can even go beyond this next season,” a buoyant Tito expressed.
Tito and his committee always felt in giving opportunities to the local boys when the club participated for inter-village tournaments and the Margao SC had a fair amount of success although the motive remains to give exposure to the youth and develop the game. He says, “We have abundant talent in our area and the inter-village tournaments serves our purpose of giving a chance to our youngsters. We are not a big village team and so we have limited invitations but we were never refused an entry even if the organisers came in at the last moment or put us as replacements. We have never looked at it or thought about it in other way. We never pay our players for inter-village football and they have never asked for money and we grab hold of opportunities by participating in any circumstances,” explains Tito who also disclosed that he always accompanies the team when they play a match.
Tito is much content with the improvement shown by his club and expresses satisfaction on the progress made by the first division team which has seven players besides the physical trainer Caitano Clemento hailing from the locality. “We are delighted that our own players will feature for the team. We want to develop players and create a base for them. This promotion is the start and we want to move ahead; I always feel and believe that development is a process which can only move on for better prospects,” Tito sums up.
Tito had a vision of taking the club to the topmost level of football and it can be too early predicting the outcome but with his devotion and determination, the dream seems quite close to being achieved.
