{"id":10644,"date":"2012-04-21T02:57:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-21T02:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/its-like-climbing-everest-for-one-more\/"},"modified":"2018-06-04T17:05:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T17:05:14","slug":"its-like-climbing-everest-for-one-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/its-like-climbing-everest-for-one-more\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s like climbing Everest for one more time: Gawli"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nNilanjan Datta<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Winning an I-League title isn\u2019t any new to him. But winning another I-League title, as Gawli puts it, \u201cis like climbing Mount Everest for one more time.\u201d Moments after Dempo SC won their fifth League crown, the Dempo skipper spoke at length towww.the-aiff.com<\/a> about his experience of playing in Dempo, the most feared rival striker, Indian football fans, the transfer season and much more. EXCERPTS:<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gawli<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n
\nWhat is so special about Dempo SC?<\/b>
\nIt\u2019s a family club and in real sense, the moment one joins the club, he becomes a family member. \u2018Part of the family\u2019 isn\u2019t just a phrase at Dempo. There\u2019s support for the players. The management stays patient and understands the situation without putting any pressure which allows the players the freedom to play with a free mind. The Chairman (Mr. Srinivas Dempo) is always there to motivate you. All of that that makes us special, I\u2019d say super-special.<\/p>\n

\u2026 and Dempo\u2019s style of playing?<\/b>
\nWe stress on playing possessional football. The more you keep the ball, the better. After all, in football it\u2019s all about the ball. Keeping possession allows you to be creative and control the pace of the game. That\u2019s also Dempo\u2019s speciality.<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dempo SC\u2019s celebrating after winning the I-League<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n
\nYou have played all over India. Would you rate Dempo as the best club you have played in?<\/b>
\nI\u2019ve had good phases in all the clubs I\u2019ve played and the memories will stay with me forever. Dempo certainly stays one of the better clubs. I\u2019d also like to highlight my stay in Mahindra United. The facilities were good and they were a professional club who took care of their footballers. It\u2019s unfortunate they closed shop.<\/p>\n

Playing for East Bengal was a big honour. It\u2019s such a historic club. But in Kolkata the fans stay impatient and come down to personal attacks whenever the team loses.<\/p>\n

We often speak of Player\u2019s education. How much important do you feel is Fans\u2019 education?<\/b>
\nHow do you do that? Invariably when you go to play as a rival team, you are greeted by the choicest of abuses. They hurl personal attacks on your near and dear ones \u2013 they don\u2019t spare anyone.<\/p>\n

To me, that\u2019s not passion. Obviously fans need to be passionate. But they need to respect others too. Very often, they don\u2019t spare their own coach, players, leave aside the visiting team. You lose a match and your car is damaged, you can\u2019t go home on your own.<\/p>\n

In the Western World, fans are passionate too. But their players are not subject to such torture; never! Mark my words, the day fans of the club cheer for their players on the field even after a loss, the scenario will change. You shouldn\u2019t demean others; you shouldn\u2019t pelt stones. That\u2019s not football.<\/p>\n

You have played against some of the best foreign recruits in recent times. Who stays the best striker so far?
\nAt present Ranti Martins stays the best striker. But I have never played against him. A match situation is entirely different from a practice session. In a practice session, you may hold back your tackles in the fear of your teammate getting injured. Among all those I have played against, Odafa Okolie stays way above the rest. He\u2019s lethal.<\/p>\n

At the club level, which has been the most memorable tournament for you so far?<\/b>
\nI\u2019d pick up two moments. — the ASEAN Cup triumph for East Bengal and Dempo SC qualifying for the AFC Cup semifinal.<\/p>\n

Have you been approached by any other club to play for them next season? What about your Dempo teammates?<\/b>
\nOur Chairman had told us long back that he would be speaking to us about next season\u2019s contracts once the I-League ends. Winning another I-League title is like climbing the Mount Everest for one more time. The contracts for the next season can wait. Let\u2019s enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nilanjan Datta Winning an I-League title isn\u2019t any new to him. But winning another I-League title, as Gawli puts it, \u201cis like climbing Mount Everest for one more time.\u201d Moments after Dempo SC won their fifth League crown, the Dempo skipper spoke at length towww.the-aiff.com about his experience of playing in Dempo, the most feared rival striker, Indian football fans, the transfer season and much more. EXCERPTS: Gawli What is so special about Dempo SC? It\u2019s a family club and in real sense, the moment one joins the club, he becomes a family member. \u2018Part of the family\u2019 isn\u2019t just <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571,169,166],"class_list":["post-10644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-update","tag-aiff","tag-football","tag-sports","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42598,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10644\/revisions\/42598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}