The Lusitanians
The Lusitanian Sporting Club was a Goan hockey team that dominated the Indian Hockey scene during the early 1900s. They transformed hockey from a sport into an art and displayed skillful stick-work, accurate passing and shrewd tactics.
Little wonder then that this well trained and highly motivated hockey team put the Goans on the sporting map of India.
Founded in 1909 by JF Pais, Dominic de Sousa & Edwin Faria, the Lusis (as they were fondly referred to) proved to be the nursery of Bombay as well as Indian hockey nurturing legends like Johnny Pinto, Sacru Menezes, Francis Gama, Maurice Britto, the Lefebour brothers....
And producing olympians like :
Walter de Sousa (1948), Leo Pinto (1948), Maxi Vaz (1948),
Reggie Rodrigues (1948), Lawrie Fernandes (1948), John Mascarenhas (1960),
In the 1950s Olympians Amir Kumar (1948), Nandi Singh (1948) also donned the maroon & blue colours of the Lusitanians
The Lusitanians were the darlings of the crowds especially of the Goans who never missed a match of their favourite team. Some of the curwallas (club for seamen), which was a distinctive feature of Goans living in Bombay)
would even forgo a meal and spend that money for a ticket for the Aga Khan cup match. And the comments, in the East Stand especially, were worth going a long way to hear.
And when the Lusitanians reached the final rounds of any tournament Sonapur which was home to a large Goan population would be deserted on match days.
In 1944 Walter captained The Lusitanians and with Johnny Pinto as the left inner won the coveted Aga Khan Tournament, In the following years the Lusitanians went on to win the prestigious Madras Gold cup and
then sent their fans wild with ecstasy by winning the Provincial Cup, The Lewis Cup and securing a runners-up in the Aga Khan tournament
With such a plethora of talent it's little wonder that the Lusitanians won several tournaments:
Aga Khan Winners : 1913, 1915, 1929, 1944 & 1955
Aga Khan Runners-Up : 1918, 1919, 1941, 195)
The Bombay Gold Cup: 1955, 1960
The Beighton Cup (Calcutta): 1950
The Lewis Cup:
The Madras Gold Cup:
Provincial Cup :