Joga Bonito, when translated from Portuguese, means ‘play beautifully.’ The phrase, made famous by Nike prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in a set of TV commercials displayed the flair, finesse and flamboyance of the Brazilians with the football at their feet in the dressing room, on the streets and on the field as well amidst some other footballing greats. Back in Bandra, a teenager, Preetam Mahadik had his own dream of playing football with the same skill and elegance of Ronaldinho, Henry, Zlatan and Rooney. Thus, Joga Bonito, a local rink-football outfit was born in 2008.
Reminisces Preetam, “The vision was to promote sports in Mumbai. As I was from a boarding school, sports was part of my life. Coming to Bombay I saw a lot of young college and school going students getting involved into a lot of unwanted activities. I asked myself as to why youngsters were getting into all this. I said rather than pondering on such issues why not do something about making a change in everyone’s life and get people more involved into sports as that would help them be occupied and give them a direction in life. It was a group of friends from the same area where we decided to start playing together every day and soon we started playing local tournaments so that we could all be together and have fun. It’s been a task to select players now as I get messages from a lot of youngsters and other players to play in Joga Bonito. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate all but I try my best to give everyone an equal chance and my advice to players is come play with us and make a place in the team by performing better than the current players.”
However, like everyone who tries something new – especially follow their passion – the team had a rough start. The team kept playing and losing tournament after tournament and at times it seemed like a waste of time and money. But then what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. “We did not have anything more than football in our lives so we stuck by it and here we are now known as the national champions and representing Team India in two international tournaments, i.e. Football Fives World Cup (F5WC) & Redbull Neymar Jr’s Five World finals.”
The team were also winners of the Neymar Jr’s Five Mumbai leg last year and eventual winners of the National Finals in Hyderabad.
The ‘Joga boys’ as they are popularly called, are also training for the F5WC to be held in Shanghai next month after being adjudged the best in the country’s rink-football circuit earlier this year.
The team that currently has four of its players from Bandra initially had all of its players from the area in and around Dr. Ambedkar Road. Managed by Preetam Mahadik, who is also an integral part of the starting line-up for tournaments, the team boasts of the likes of Daniel Fernandes, Pratik Kadam and Joshua Fernandes all from Bandra. Joshua, who is currently out with an injury, is raring to get back on the field. He has, like Preetam, also been part of the squad since its inception and is famous in Bandra not just for his football, but also his hockey skills.
Also in the ranks are big names like Dion Menezes, captain of the senior state team at the Santosh Trophy last season, Mervin Stephen, an ex U16 India player, Wayne Vaz, who represented Pune City in the ISL last season as also Nikhil Prabhu, who is currently scoring the goals for the Pune City U18 team.
Their trip to Brazil was like the icing on the cake. Having won innumerable titles in the past two years, it was time to take their football to the next level at the Neymar Jr’s Five in the bustling city of Sao Paulo in Brazil, India’s equivalent to Mumbai. With 32 of the world’s best countries in the five-a-side format fighting it out for supremacy, the Indians, represented by Joga Bonito, were also challenged by Redbull India to win just a single game. And boy did they do it in style! Having defeated Chile and Luxembourg in the league stages, the team were left heartbroken after losing to Columbia in the sudden-death of the penalty shoot-out, having led the Columbians at half time. So much for their efforts that Redbull has invited the boys for a party to Brazil.
“For us, it was like a dream come true. Brazil is the Mecca of football and it is every footballer’s dream to visit Brazil once. We are glad and thankful to Redbull and Neymar Jr’s Five for giving us this opportunity. Football is everything for Brazilians; it is their way of life and a route to get out of poverty. The passion for football in Brazil cannot be compared to any other country. They are very humble irrespective of their status and football connects them. To give you an example, we met Marcelo at the beach playing with locals and as though he was one of them. There was no aura or attitude that came across even for a second from him,” says an excited Preetam.
When asked if we Indians can pick up something from the Samba boys, Preetam said, “There is a lot that we can learn from them. Football is played and loved. It’s an emotion for them; in India, it’s become a marketing gimmick and more of money-making business. Trust me we have a lot of talent and I say this because I have been playing and watching private tournaments all over Mumbai but the saddest part here is the entire system is corrupt and you will only succeed if you know the right people. People who do not know football have taken the highest ranks in Indian football, how is the country going to grow? Not that we are not going to improve but yes these are the major issues that need to be taken care of if we have to find ourselves competing against the best teams in the world. The process is long and not easy but unless you do it out of love and passion it won’t happen,” says a more pensive Preetam.
“There in Brazil, I observed that in most of the games, we Indians are equal to the task in terms of ball skills and stamina, we are almost on the same level to them. The difference is that they are good with their strategy and positioning, which again is the result of proper training by professionals.”
On asked what it takes to reach up there, Preetam had an answer most youngsters fail to understand today, “There is no quick way to success. It’s a process and it takes a lot of hard work and commitment to reach the top level; the advice I would like to give youngsters and parents is not to neglect the most important aspect of a sportsperson’s development i.e. nutrition. We in India fail to understand the importance of nutrition in sports and I hope there is a lot of importance given to this in the coming future. I would advise young and aspiring players to keep working hard and take care of your health and nutrition, there is no short cut to success but with proper dedication and hard work no one can stop you from achieving your dreams.”
Until recently, Preetam sat in his corporate office job which he quit a few months back. Like many footballers, he wanted to do something with football but was never able to give 100% due to his work commitments. “I always wanted to have my own academy so took time to analyse everything did my coaching license and now I am a coach. I am into coaching I practise and coach every alternate day as I intend to have my own academy and train underprivileged children who cannot afford all this. Most of the team members work and play professionally so they practise as and when they get time. We play as many tournaments we can over the weekends as long as the timings do not clash. I don’t know if things will work or no or I will have to go back to my corporate job but all I know is that tomorrow I will never say to myself that I never tried and followed my passion.”
The cost of playing football on a daily and even weekly basis in Mumbai can burn a hole in one’s pockets. “I have managed the costs by myself until today and we do not have any sponsors. By God’s grace, we have won a lot of tournaments so it’s not a big problem for us.”
“We played Columbia in the knockouts and were leading against them 1-0 till the last 20 seconds of the game where one misunderstanding led to Columbia’s goal and we were knocked out in penalties. No, we were not nervous; we always play fearless and we believe that winning is not everything but how you play is more important. I always say to my boys sometimes we win sometimes we learn but we never lose. I encourage them to take risks and play beautiful football that’s what Joga Bonito is.”
Now that they have established their footballing supremacy in the country, Joga Bonito is ready to take the next step by passing their skills and knowledge with the announcement of their own football academy in Bandra.
Want to play football the Brazilian way? Joga Bonito is the answer!
