CONFLICT is the common element between battles in court and those on the football field. Though outwardly dissimilar, they are identical. Only the environment and the method of resolving the conflict are dissimilar. In courts, lawyers and judges use sophisticated language and cite the Constitution or laws made by the legislature to win or lose a battle. On the football field, opposing players use their feet, their brawn and sometimes their brains to score goals or thwart goals.
This writer was privileged to take part in court battles as a lawyer and watch battles on the football field as a spectator. In the 1970s, Don Bosco High School in Panjim nurtured football legends like Armando Colaco, Dionizio Trinidade and Irineu Gomes apart from producing senior advocates like Agnelo Diniz.
A Catholic priest, Fr William Lyons, introduced football in Goa, according to two books, “The Grass is Green in Goa” encapsulating 40 years of the Goa Football Association and “Footprints in the Sand” by Marcus Mergulhao and Mario Rodrigues. Adler D’Cruz and Amit Gaude sent me both books. These books prove the Portuguese did some good apart from destroying temples.
Now, just as a lawyer prepares his brief before beginning his arguments in court, so also football legends train under a coach before venturing on the football field. In the 1970s, the football coach for Don Bosco High School at Panjim was Wilson Paes, a dark-complexioned, roughly 5 foot 6 inches tall man who was earlier the coach of St Anthony’s High School at Monte de Guirim.

FRESH GRADUATES
AFTER passing their LLB degree from VM Salgaorcar College of Law at Miramar or Govind Ramnath Kare College of Law at Margao, fresh law graduates have to pass their All India Bar examination held by the Bar Council of India and after that, train under senior advocates who have been practicing for 10 years or more.
Goans do not know that although an advocate may have practiced law for 40 years or more, that does not automatically qualify him to be called a “senior advocate.” Senior advocates are those who have been conferred this designation by the High Court of Bombay at Goa because of their vast accumulated knowledge of law and procedure followed in civil and criminal courts. The 50th Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Chandrachud was designated an additional solicitor general to represent the Union government when he was barely in his 40s and was elevated as a high court judge
One such distinguished senior advocate in Goa is Surendra Dessai, who has been practicing law for over 50 years and was a former Indian Air Force (IAF) officer. He was offered high court judgeship but turned down the offer. His vast knowledge of law makes him a veritable lion in the legal profession so that when he walks into any court room of the High Court of Bombay at Goa, most of the judges would l respond by saying : “Yes, Mr Dessai?” which may be unfair to the junior advocates who fumble and bumble with their briefs.
But life is like that. There are other senior advocates like the advocate general, Devidas Pangam, whose revised salary of Rs800,000 per month disbursed by the revised circular of the Goa government, makes him the highest paid senior advocate in the state.
Senior advocate Jose Elmano Coelho Pereira (Zilman Pereira) was the advocate general in 1994 and again in 1997. He went to the Lyceum and later to People’s High School in Panjim. Both these former advocates general prepare their briefs thoroughly. But, senior advocate Surendra Dessai who lives in a posh one-storied bungalow at Altinho, near the Nirmal Niketan, is in a class by himself. It is a treat to watch him present his case before the court.

DESSAI’S CHAMBER
DESSAI’S chamber has produced many lawyers like AV Pavithran, whose calm demeanor stood him in good stead while assisting his senior, Surendra Dessai while arguing the illegal demolition case of the Agarwaddekar’s at Assagao which was heard on July 21, 2024. Pooja Sharma was reportedly a Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) operative and knew the former DGP Jaspal Singh very well, he was shunted out of Goa after his role in assisting Pooja Sharma whom he probably knew during his days in RAW.
Dessai and Pavithran argued that the case was politicized and the investigation was being influenced. Although the sessions court denied Pooja Sharma bail, the duo of Desai-Pavithran succeeded in securing bail for them in the High Court of Bombay at Goa. Dessai is known to be a tough-as-nails senior advocate and reportedly ticked off a former chief minister “to take back your files” after the father-and-son duo were going to be arrested.
They had to seek bail and senior advocate Surendra Dessai could not appear for both. Senior advocates must be fearless and Dessai is not afraid of requesting high court judges to recuse from hearing a case when there is a conflict of interest.
The point here is like the kick-off on a football field, where the forward deftly passes the ball to his teammate, these senior advocates deftly place the ball in the opposite camp by putting forward a few points which the government pleader may be unable to rebut. And the formidable team of Surendra Dessai and Pavithran walk away with catlike smiles on their faces. Another victory won.
The Dempo coach, Armando Colaco, was a student of Don Bosco High School at Panjim, where I passed with 68 % in 1975, which was an achievement at that time but will be looked down upon today. Armando Colaco and footballers like my classmate, Dionizio Trinidade, and Irineu Gomes (nicknamed “Pandu”) were not good in studies but excellent on the football ground.
Like the ace sharpshooters which they were, while taking on arch rivals like St Anthony’s High School at Monte de Guirim, who sported red and yellow jerseys in the late 1970s, during the Subroto Mukherjee under-17 football tournament. Their red-and-yellow jerseys contrasted with the Boscoites blue and white jerseys. The school boys from Don Bosco would gather at the Campal football grounds with drums, cymbals and trumpets which were beaten furiously when a goal was scored by Don Bosco. On one occasion, after a hotly-contested hockey match, the hockey players from St Anthony’s, Gurim were returning when a player stuck his arm out of the fast-moving van. A vehicle coming from the opposite direction smashed the arm of the player, reducing the humerus, ulna and radius to splinters.
Winning a match on the football field or in the courts of law is the same. You hit hard and don’t worry about hurting your opponent.