FC Goa may well be out of this year’s Indian Super League, but the team seems to have also lost the heart of its Goan fans, right from the shock announcement of the ownership change in July 2016. So, Thursday’s performance where they conceded late and went down 1-2 to Atletico de Kolkata at home drew some but not a lot of sympathy for the home team, and even much opprobrium from old fans on social media.

“Absolutely delighted that FC Goa lost today…Looking forward to a change in the ownership so that the Goan community can soon own it. The lacklustre performance will be a great boost for this to happen. In the long term, all that is happening is for the good,” wrote Armando Gonsalves, after Thursday’s loss, echoing one of the strident positions that FC Goa fans took this year.

A feeling of hurt

Since Goan owners Dattaraj Salgaocar and Srinivas Dempo exited the franchise, with the Deltin Corp casino group picking up their 65 % stake, local fans of the team were split. Ardent supporters of the team said they loved football, but hated the casinos more and simply stopped following the ups and downs of their former favorite team.

The question of the franchise ownership figured in the Goa Assembly as well, with politicians voicing their unhappiness with events.

Comments on social media post Thursday’s angst, indicated all the angst that football fans of the team have felt this season. “You know what hurts the most? FC Goa represented an almost miraculous unity among all Goans. There was no North or South. No Bharatiya Janata Party, no Congress. We were all Goans cheering together, mourning together. And that has been taken away from Goa. It was not just football. It was unity”, said writer Bevinda Collaco.

There was no doubt that the FC Goa team in its previous avatar, worked a unique regional unity, across religious, language and political divides. Almost the entire state celebrated its victories and was plunged into sadness at its losses. “I went to every match earlier. This year, I don’t even bother to find out when they are playing”, said Marius Fernandes, cultural activist and grassroots football developer.

On the streets the disengagement between FC Goa and its fans is palpable even to those who do not follow sports at all. “What is surprising is that the flags cannot be seen anymore. For the last two years, FC Goa flags were everywhere, on every rooftop. Today where are they? You just don’t see the banners, posters and flags anymore” said Fernandes. He said there are two reasons for this: “Because of the casinos getting involved and the high price for tickets. They were priced the highest”.

‘Most Goans have abandoned the team in spirit’

While online bookings for Chennaiyin FC’s home matches were selling at five price points from Rs 150, 200, 250, 300 and 500, matches in Goa were selling from Rs 250, 500, 900, 1400 and 5000 for corporate boxes.

Overt advertising for the casino company also put off scores of fans who might have wanted to forget the ownership issue and simply cheer their team. Team jerseys featured the casino name emblazoned boldly, and to many, that was akin to thumbing their nose at local sentiment.

Goa’s casinos, have acquired a reputation for defying all popular sentiment for having them shifted out of capital Panjim’s Mandovi river, and a not inexplicable propensity to curry favour with the state’s politicians. In deference to the popular pulse, both opposition parties, the Aam Aaadmi Party and the Congress have made promises to have them evicted, in the run up to the March 2017 polls.

“Most Goans have abandoned the team in spirit” says Armando Gonsalves. As it did badly, some fans attributed it to a negative vibe, while others pointed to the line up and other technicalities.

The sentiment weighed heavily with some, but other fans were willing to live and let live. “We love football, so the ownership does not matter. The earlier owners had passion for the game, so I was disappointed about the change. The way the All Indian Football Federation treated them was bad. But in the end football was earlier supported by mining companies, now by casino companies, so what’s the difference?”, Fabian D’Souza, the president of youth football academy GoaUnited, told Scroll.